Benchmark indices were trading higher in afternoon session today, led by gains in consumer durables, banking, metal and auto stocks. Sensex rose 573 points to 58,367 and Nifty climbed 194 points higher at 17,398.
Asian Paints share was the top Sensex gainer, rising 2.48% followed by Titan, Ultra tech and L&T. PowerGrid was the top Sensex loser, falling 0.90 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy's and IndusInd Bank.
Hemant Kanawala, Head - Equity, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance said, "While Omicron threat and liquidity withdrawal concerns have led to downside pressure on markets in near term, the earnings momentum has been strong and has provided downside protection, thus keeping markets range bound over last few weeks. In the near term, we expect these two opposing factors (liquidity withdrawal on the downside and earnings roll-over on the upside) to remain in play, with markets continuing to consolidate for some more time. Earnings performance would be a key trigger watched by the market in near term. Long-term view on strength of recovery remains undeterred by near-term volatility and corrections should be used to accumulate"
Of the 30 Sensex shares, 27 were trading higher. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices gained 347 points and 353 points, respectively. On the sectoral front, BSE consumer durables, banking, metal and auto indices rose 916 points, 592 points 453 points and 404 points, respectively.
All 19 BSE sectoral indices were trading in green. The market breadth was positive with 2,517 shares trading higher against 811 stocks in the red. 92 shares were unchanged. Market cap of the BSE-listed firms stood at Rs 266.41 lakh crore.
In early trade today, Sensex rose 353 points to 58,148 and Nifty gained 103 points to 17,307. Titan share was the top Sensex gainer, rising 2.09% followed by Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and Bharti Airtel.
On Thursday, Sensex closed 12 points lower at 57,794.32 and Nifty ended 9.65 points lower at 17,203.95. NTPC was the top Sensex gainer, rising 3 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Titan, IndusInd Bank and Wipro.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 986.32 crore on December 30, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 577 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.