Sensex Surges Over 100 Points in Early Trade; Nifty Tops 17,250

Mumbai, Dec 29: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 100 points in early trade on Wednesday tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

The 30-share index was trading 104.31 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 58,001.79 in opening trade. Similarly, the Nifty rose 28.45 points or 0.17 per cent to 17,261.70.

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IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, NTPC, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Nestle India were among the laggards.

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In the previous session, the 30-share equity benchmark surged 477.24 points or 0.83 per cent to end at 57,897.48, and Nifty rose by 147.20 points or 0.86 per cent to 17,233.45.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market, as they purchased shares worth Rs 207.31 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.

There are two divergent trends in the governments' and market's response to the Omicron variant, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Governments, globally, are responding with caution and imposing some restrictions. In India too Maharashtra and Delhi have imposed some restrictions in the context of rising cases. But the markets have responded to the Omicron variant assuming that this marks the last phase of the pandemic," he said.

He further said, "a strong positive for the market is that FIIs have turned buyers. This augurs well for financials, particularly leading banking stocks whose valuations are attractive now. Rising crude is a macro headwind."

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with losses in mid-session deals.

Stock exchanges in the US largely ended with losses in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.06 per cent to USD 78.72 per barrel.

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