India’s stocks end two-day falling streak on bottom-picking
11:03, 21 December 2021
India’s stocks ended higher after a two-day filling streak amid choppy trade as bottom-picking by investors helped indices recover from their lowest level in four months.
The bellwether Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensitive index ended at 56,319 points, 0.89% higher than its previous close. The most-traded National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) Nifty50 index finished 0.94% higher at 16,770.8 points.
“The Indian market was attempting to recover from yesterday’s heavy sell-off. Domestic indices staged a gap-up opening on bargain hunting supported by positive sentiments across global markets. Although concerns surrounding the impact of Omicron and foreign investors selling still lingers, investors are trading cautiously and are optimistic. Gains in software, commodities and metal stocks lifted the indices higher,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
All 11 sectoral indices ended in the positive territory, a reversal from yesterday’s trend, with the Nifty Metals index gaining as much as 2.9% and the Nifty Media companies index gaining 2.5%. The NSE advance-decline share ratio – the number of advancing shares divided by the number of declining shares – was 1,450–590 today. India VIX, the index that measures volatility in the market, today fell 7.5% to 17.5.
Markets took a breather
“Markets witnessed a decent rebound and gained nearly a percent, taking a breather after the recent fall. The benchmark opened with an uptick and inched further higher, however selling pressure in the latter half trimmed the gains,” said Ajit Mishra, vice president for research at Religare Broking.
Indices opened higher today and gained as much as 2% as the fall to the lowest level in nearly four months yesterday seemed to have been overdone, investors said. The undertone, however, remains nervous amid fears of the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant and inflation hardening from early in the new year.
The coronavirus pandemic is raging across the world, with the new Omicron variant spreading rapidly. Europe and the US are seeing a steep rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
Variant spreads across globe
Europe is widely seen as a reliable indicator of global trends in the pandemic and is imposing new lockdowns as several countries record sky-high rates of new infections. The UK recorded 91,743 new Covid-19 cases on 20 December. In the US, Omicron is now the dominant strain, accounting for about 73.2% of cases in the second week of December.
In the 24 hours ended 07:00 local time (UTC +5:30), India recorded 5,326 new cases of coronavirus infections, the lowest in 581 days. As many as 200 Omicron cases have been detected.
Updates on the new variant are keeping choppiness high globally in the equity markets and this trend will continue in the near future, Religare Broking’s Mishra said. In the case of a further rebound, the Nifty50 index would face a hurdle around the 17,000-17,150 zone.
New issues
Stock in CE Info Systems, which runs the brand MapmyIndia, made its debut on bourses, listing at INR1,581 ($20.92), 53% above its issue price of INR1,033 on the National Stock Exchange. The initial public offering of MapmyIndia was subscribed 154.71 times. It raised a total of INR10.4bn through the issue of 10 million equity shares.
The share sale issue of CMS Info Systems, one of the largest cash-management companies in India, has garnered INR3.3bn from 12 anchor investors. The issue opened to the public for subscription today and the offer will close on 23 December.