Informist, Thursday, Dec 23, 2021
By Vaibhavi
MUMBAI – In tandem with their global peers, domestic benchmark equity indices extended gains to the third session and ended the day in the green, as positive news around the Omicron variant of COVID-19 somewhat eased concerns.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday gave its approval for emergency use of COVID-19 treatment drug Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer Inc. The drugmarker claimed that Paxlovid showed 90% efficacy in preventing hospitalisations and deaths among high-risk patients, and was also effective against Omicron, as per reports.
This triggered bargain-buying in the market after the recent losses. Benchmark indices have corrected about 11% from their lifetime highs touched in October.
The Nifty 50 briefly breached the 17100-point mark during the day, though it ended tad off highs. It ended 0.7% higher at 17072.60 points, after touching a high of 17118.65 points. The 30-stock Sensex gained 0.7% to close at 57315.28 points, after hitting the day's high of 57490.52 points.
Facing strong resistance at the 17200-point level, the indices are expected to trade range-bound in the next few sessions, said Ruchit Jain, senior trading strategist, 5paisa.com.
The upmove in the benchmark indices was aided by broad-based gains, as almost all major sectoral indices ended positive. Defensive buying in frontline sectors like fast moving consumer goods and information technology provided significant support to the Nifty 50.
Gains in large-cap FMCG majors ITC, Britannia Industries, Tata Consumer Products and Hindustan Unilever, which 1.1-2.5%, pushed the Nifty FMCG index to end 1.3% higher.
Among other sectors, underperformance by the banking pack, whicha fell prey to some profit booking, saw the Nifty Bank end the day off its highs. The index ended 0.5% higher at 35191.15 points, after hitting a high of 35477.30 points in the day.
Public sector banks outperformed their private sector peers following reports that the government was working on a plan to privatise the banks, and might also relax restrictions on foreign shareholders.
Shares of state-owned banks gained 0.3-3%, lifting the Nifty PSU Bank index to close 1.6% higher.
The broader market continued to fare better than frontline stocks, as all small-cap and mid-cap indices on the National Stock Exchange ended 1-2% higher today.
Shares of MedPlus Health Services extended gains after making a strong debut on bourses today, listing at a 31% premium to its issue price. The stock ended the day nearly 41% higher.
* Among Nifty 50 stocks, 35 rose and 15 fell
* Among Sensex stocks, 20 rose and 10 fell
* On the NSE, 1,311 stocks rose, 716 fell and 60 were unchanged
* On the BSE, 2,194 stocks rose, 1122 fell and 133 were unchanged
* Nifty Pharma: Up 0.7%; Nifty PSU Bank: Up 1.22%; Nifty Media: Down 1.1%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BSE National Stock Exchange
Sensex: 57315.28, up 384.72 pts (0.68%) Nifty 50: 17072.60, up 117.15 pts (0.69%)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S&P BSE Sensitive Index Nifty 50
Lifetime High:62245.43 (Oct 19) : Lifetime High: 18604.45 (Oct 19)
Record Close High: 61765.59 (Oct 18) : Record Close High: 18477.05 (Oct 18)
2021 1st day close: 47868.98 (Jan 1) : 2021 1st day close: 14018.5 (Jan 1)
2021 Closing High: 61765.59 (Oct 18) : 2021 Closing High: 18477.05 (Oct 18)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan 29) : 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan 29)
2021 High (intraday): 62245.43 (Oct 19) : 2021 High (intraday): 18604.45 (Oct 19)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan 29) : 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan 29)
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec 31) : 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar 23) : 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec 31) : 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar 24) : 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec 20) : 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb 19) : 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug 28)) : 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar 23) : 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec 26) : 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec 26)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End
Edited by Avishek Dutta
Cogencis news is now Informist. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2021. All rights reserved.
