Mumbai: The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) settled over 1.5 per cent higher on Tuesday as investors looked past concerns surrounding the Omicron coronavirus variant led by gains in auto, metals, realty and banking stocks.The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 886.51 points (1.56 per cent) to end at 57,633.65 while the broader Nifty 50 surged 264.45 points (1.56 per cent) to settle at 17,176.70.
Both the indices had opened with 0.5 per cent gains and extended further as the day progressed.On the Sensex pack, Tata Steel was the top gainer on Tuesday followed by Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Titan Company, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki India and Power Grid Corporation of India.Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index rose 3.13 per cent led by Hindustan Copper and National Aluminium Company. The Bank Nifty climbed 2.47 per cent aided by Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.
The Nifty Auto index too inched 1.60 per cent driven by Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 25,161.62, up 319.31 points (1.29 per cent) while the S&P BSE SmallCap settled at 28,358.02, up 319.49 points (1.14 per cent). Going ahead, market participants will look forward to the outcome of the bi-monthly meeting of RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday. “Domestic bourses staged a recovery bucking the trend in the international markets 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 of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
