Indian stocks look firm despite new Covid variant jitters
By Vinu Lal
02:52, 29 November 2021

Indian stocks look to open trading on firm ground if trading trends from SGX Nifty futures early Monday morning are any indication.
SGX Nifty futures, which represent Indian stocks, were trading up a whopping 1.67% even as Asian peers across all key regions were trading weak over fears of the new Covid variant Omicron.
Wall Street indices sank on Friday, its worst since February, as the new variant started spreading across the globe challenging further economic recovery. Dow lost 2.53%, at one point, lost 1000 points on Friday, which is the worst since February, S&P 500 lost 2.3%.
“Technically, Nifty has slipped below its critical support that has opened the door for further weakness towards the next important support levels of 16700/16400. On the upside, we have multiple resistances in the 17100-17400 band and therefore the 17100-17400 area will act as a critical supply zone,” said Santosh Meena, head of research, Swastika Investmart.
“Domestically, India will announce its Q3 GDP (third-quarter gross domestic product) numbers on the 30th of November while monthly auto sales numbers will also have some impact on the market,” added Meena.
“The beginning of the winter session of the parliament will be in focus with 26 bills to be tabled including the Cryptocurrency bill. Apart from the domestic factors, markets will continue to take cues from the global markets, especially the updates on the new Covid variant,” said Ajit Mishra, VP Research. Religare Broking.
“Indian markets could open flat to mildly higher in line with flat Asian markets today and despite negative US markets on Friday,” said a note from HDFC Securities Retail Research.
Key things to note before trade
- Vedanta raised $800m by pledging shares in the company for capital expenditure
- Tata Steel will increase its iron ore production from 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 45mtpa in the next five years
- ITC to acquire a 16% stake in Mother Sparsh, an ayurvedic and natural personal care brand
- Paytm parent One97 Communications reported a widening of consolidated losses in the quarter ended 30 September
Read More: Global risk assets slump as new Covid variant emerges
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