Bourses continue to trade with solid gains

Mirroring other Asian peers, local equity markets were trading firmly in green with solid gains of over half a percent each as investors shrugged off worries over the Omicron COVID-19 variant. Sentiments were upbeat as Commerce and industry ministry data showed that India’s exports rose by 36.2 per cent to $23.8 billion during the first three weeks of December 2021 (during December 1-21), over the same period of 2020-21 ($17.49 billion). It was up by 27.70 per cent over the same period of 2019-20 ($18.65 billion). On the global front, Asian markets were trading firm as investors mulled another all-time high for U.S. shares on optimism the global recovery can weather risks from the coronavirus and tighter policy. Closer home, all the sectoral indices on BSE were trading into positive territory, stocks from capital goods, industrials and basic materials counters were the prominent gainers. Moreover, telecom stocks zoomed as Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said commercial 5G services will be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57873.84, up by 453.60 points or 0.79% after trading in a range of 57683.24 and 57903.89. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.98%, while Small cap index was up by 1.42%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.52%, Industrials up by 1.44%, Basic Materials up by 1.44%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.40% and Consumer Durables was up by 1.37%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 2.40%, Titan Company up by 2.13%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.06%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.84% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 1.82%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.92%, Indusind Bank down by 0.46% and Dr. Reddy's Lab was down by 0.15% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said commercial 5G services will be rolled out in selected cities in India in 2022. The cities which are set to get the 5G telecom services in 2022 include Gurugram, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jamnagar, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Pune, and Gandhinagar.

Further, it stated that leading telecom service providers Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, have established 5G trials sites in these cities. These Metros and big cities would be the first places for launch of 5G services in the country, next year. The fifth-generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband networks. While 4G was a great leap forward, allowing people to stream music and video on the go, 5G is designed to connect many more types of devices than smartphones and offers far higher speed and capacity.

Apart from the leading telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers, the government is also involved actively to facilitate the rollout of 5G services. The Department of Telecom has roped in leading research institutions for development and testing of 5G technology. Eight agencies - Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Science (IISC) Bangalore, Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER) and Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT) - are involved in the research project called 'Indigenous 5G Test bed project'.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17237.75, up by 151.50 points or 0.89% after trading in a range of 17163.65 and 17239.15. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Asian Paints up by 2.42%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.18%, Eicher Motors up by 2.12%, Titan Co up by 2.09% and Larsen & Toubro was up by 2.08%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.90%, Indusind Bank down by 0.31% and Dr. Reddy's Lab was down by 0.27% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading firm; Jakarta Composite soared 29.11 points or 0.44% to 6,604.55, Hang Seng increased 9.91 points or 0.04% to 23,233.67, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 147.87 points or 0.82% to 18,196.81, Straits Times advanced 19.39 points or 0.62% to 3,123.63, KOSPI rose 20.74 points or 0.69% to 3,020.29, Shanghai Composite gained 2.97 points or 0.08% to 3,618.94 and Nikkei 225 was up by 392.70 points or 1.37% to 29,069.16.