Sensex Trades Volatile, Nifty Holds Above 17,200 Levels, Power Grid, HDFC Bank Top Drags
Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Wednesday, December 29 on weak global cues. As of 9:30 am, the Sensex was up 0.08 per cent or 48.54 points at 57,946.20, while the Nifty was up 147 points at 17,233.05.
HDFC Bank, Infosys, Power Grid Corporation of India, Coal India, NTPC were among the top drags. On the flipside, IndusInd Bank, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Labs were among the top gainers.
Asian stocks fell on Wednesday after a mixed Wall Street session, as investors in the region positioned their portfolios for the new year and Omicron continued to grapple with the rising global number of coronavirus cases.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.25 per cent after six sessions of gains, following volatile US trade. Losses in Hong Kong were lower, with mainland tech stocks falling 0.6 per cent, while Chinese blue chips fell 0.25 per cent. Percent.
Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.58 per cent today after hitting a one-month high on Tuesday. But in Australia, the ASX 200 was up a percentage point at the start of the session, even though the country’s most populous state, New South Wales, announced 11,201 new COVID-19 cases.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.26 percent on Tuesday. The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high during the session, but weakened by 0.10 percent at the end of the day. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.56 per cent.
In forex markets, the dollar strengthened slightly in early Asian trade today as a recent rally in stocks showed signs of decline, but holiday-thin trading meant the markets were showing little real direction.
The euro fell 0.14 percent overnight to $1.1307 and the pound slipped from a five-week high, helping to take the dollar index, which measures the greenback against key peers, to 96.165 from a low of 95.958 on Friday.
In the crude oil market, US oil rose for the sixth consecutive session on Wednesday, while Brent gained further ground with a broad-based rally supporting prices in global markets.
Benchmark Brent crude rose 23 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $79.17 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 21 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $76.19 a barrel. Both the contracts are trading near their highest levels in a month, which is on the back of a firming up in equities.
Back home, on the stock-specific front, multiplex stocks like PVR, Inox Leisure may again be in focus today as the Delhi government announces new restrictions under ‘Level 1’ or ‘Yellow Alert’ amid rising Omicron variant cases of COVID-19. has announced. 19 in the national capital.
