The benchmark Sensex spurted 620 points and the Nifty reclaimed the 17000-mark as investors bought beaten down stocks amid expectations of robust growth, while keeping at arm’s length fears over the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The 30-share gauge opened in the green at 57365.85 and hit an intra-day peak of 57846.45, before settling higher by 619.92 points, or 1.09 per cent, at 57684.79. The NSE Nifty surged 183.70 points or 1.08 per cent to 17166.90.
Banking & finance stocks were the flavour of the day with IndusInd Bank being the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 5.73 per cent. It was followed by Axis Bank, SBI, Tech Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries, which gained up to 3.46 per cent.
A bunch of domestic data on the economy lifted sentiment. GDP clocked 8.4 per cent growth in Q2, while GST collections in November were the second highest for any month.
Investors also digested hawkish statements from the US Federal Reserve with chair Jerome Powell saying that it could end the tapering early. “Though the Fed chair’s comment on speeding up the pace of the bond-buying taper plan kept investors cautious along with the concerns of Omicron, the global markets recovered sharply today,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
However, some of the experts are advising caution as news of the new Covid variant is only unfolding. While some states such as Maharashtra have already tightened travel rules, the apprehension is that if the number of cases increase, economic activity could again be affected.
