Market rebounds on bargain hunting

Mumbai: Market benchmarks made an emphatic comeback on Tuesday after a two-session selloff, in tandem with a recovery in global equities as worries over the Omicron variant receded.

According to experts, world markets heaved a sigh of relief after initial studies showed that even though the Omicron strain of Covid-19 is fast spreading, it is largely milder than the Delta variant. Bargain hunting in metal and banking stocks, coupled with a modest recovery in the rupee, further boosted domestic indices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 886.51 points or 1.56 per cent to finish at 57,633.65. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty jumped 264.45 points or 1.56 per cent to 17,176.70.

"Domestic bourses staged a recovery supported by broad-based buying, while healthcare stocks lost ground. Global markets traded with optimism on reports that the Omicron strain may not be as severe as expected.

Moreover, additional liquidity freed up by the Chinese central bank through policy easing boosted the Chinese markets. In the Indian markets, banking and financial stocks advanced since the MPC is scheduled to announce its policy decision tomorrow where the RBI is likely to keep its policies unchanged considering the short-term uncertainties," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services. Shrikant Chouhan, head (equity research-retail), Kotak Securities, adds: "Indian markets mirrored the sharp buoyancy in global indices on the back of short-covering by market participants. The rally was backed by a sharp upsurge in banking and metal stocks, which had taken a severe hammering in recent sessions."

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, advancing 3.63 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, SBI, Titan and Bajaj Finance. Asian Paints was the sole laggard, dipping 0.22 per cent.

All sectoral indices ended with gains. BSE metal, realty, bankex, finance, basic materials, consumer durables, oil and gas, utilities and auto indices climbed as much as 3.20 per cent. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices spurted up to 1.29 per cent.

Mcap recovers by Rs3.45 lakh cr Investors' wealth on Tuesday jumped by Rs3,45,719.55 crore as markets returned to winning ways after a heavy selloff in the previous two sessions. Helped by the comeback in equities, the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed companies rallied by Rs3,45,719.55 crore to reach Rs 2,60,18,494.21 crore.