Sensex, Nifty In Red, Voda Idea Tanks 15 Per Cent

HDFC, NTPC, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, UltraTech, and Tech Mahindra emerged as top gainers, rising as much as 1.69 per cent

New Delhi: The key benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, started Tuesday’s session on a positive note, amid volatility due to global cues and rising cases of Omicron variant of Covid-19.

At 10 am, the 30-share benchmark was trading at 60,356, lower by 38 points. The NSE Nifty lost 20 points to trade at 17,982.

On the Sensex platform, HDFC, NTPC, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, UltraTech, and Tech Mahindra emerged as top gainers, rising as much as 1.69 per cent. Market breadth was divided, with 15 of the 30 Sensex trading in the green.

In the previous session, the 30-share BSE benchmark had settled at 60,395.63, higher by 650.98 points or 1.09 per cent and the broader NSE Nifty climbed 190.60 points or 1.07 per cent to settle at 18,003.30. 

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were also in the green zone and were up 0.2 and 0.6 per cent, respectively.

Quoting V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, PTI said, “Contrary to expectations of modest returns in 2022, the year has started with 4 per cent appreciation in Nifty so far in January.”

The surge is led by the justifiable uptrend in Bank Nifty which is up by 8 per cent till January 10, he said, adding that good Q3 results expected from financials, particularly leading banks, IT, metals, telecom and oil and gas are driving the current momentum in stocks.

Apprehension of an earlier-than-expected rate hike by the Fed to tackle inflation and increasing cases of the Omicron variant kept investors on the back foot.

Asian equities and the dollar struggled to find direction with attention squarely on the timing and pace of US monetary policy normalisation.

Asian bourses saw mixed response from participants with China and Japan logging losses and Hong Kong and Taiwan gaining.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 124.23 crore on Monday, according to stock exchange data.

Meanwhile, shares of Vodafone Idea tanked 15 per cent on the BSE after the company said that the central government will buy 36 per cent in the telecom firm after its board approved conversion of dues into equity.