Sensex gallops 776 pts, Nifty ends above 17,400; HDFC, IT shares lead

The Midcap and Smallcap indices also surged over a per cent each, and advancing shares outnumbered declining stocks in 2:1 ratio the BSE on Thursday

Closing Bell

The bulls roared on the Dalal Street for the second straight trading session, even as world markets grappled with Omicron fears.

The BSE benchmark index, opened almost 100 points higher, and went on to touch a high of .... in late trades led by strong gains in select financial and IT stocks. Power and FMCG shares also aided the rally. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 776 points at 58,461. The BSE index had gained 620 points in trades on Wednesday.

The NSE Nifty surged to a high of 17,420, and eventually settled 235 points higher at 17,402.

The broader indices also finished with decent gains. The BSE Midcap index was up 1.1 per cent, and the Smallcap index advanced 1.2 per cent. The overall breadth too was extremely positive, with nearly two advancing shares for every declining stock on the BSE.

Market Dashboard: Snapshot of key movers and shakers in trade today

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, HDFC was the top gainer, it rallied 3.9 per cent to Rs 2,808, and contributed nearly one-fourth of the gains for the BSE benchmark.

PowerGrid Corporation, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Infosys and TCS were the other major gainers, up 2-3 per cent each. Bharti Airtel rebounded in late trades to finish 1.5 per cent higher.

In the broader markets, Dish TV India was locked at the 5 per cent upper circuit at Rs 18.05 on the BSE on Thursday amid on reports that telecom services provider Bharti Airtel is in talks with the former to buy majority stake in broadcasting & cable TV operator. READ MORE

Apollo Pipes and Indian Exchange Energy (IEX) turned ex-bonus today. While the former soared to a high of Rs 680, and ended with a gain of 5.7 per cent at Rs 616, the latter dropped to a low of Rs 704 and ended almost flat at Rs 731. READ MORE

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Primay Market Update

Star Health and Allied Insurance: Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed company's issue was subscribed only 69 per cent as of 03:25 PM on the the final day of the issue. Retail portion was subscribed 1.1 times, and QIBs was subscribed 86 per cent.

Tega Industries: The IPO on the second day of its offer was subscribed 10.8 times with retail portion's subscription at 14.5x; NII (wealthy investors) at 16.1x; and QIB at 16 per cent.

Anand Rathi Wealth: The issue was fully subscribed on the first day itself. Total bids received were 1.2x; with retails bids 1. 9x and NII at 1.2x.
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Markets at 02:30 PM

LIVE market update: The key benchmark indices continued to hover near the high's of the day on the back of strong gains in IT and financial shares. HDFC alone has contributed almost one-third of the gains for the BSE benchmark.

The Sensex was up 521 points at 58,206, and the NSE Nifty had added 159 points to 17,326. Among the broader indices, the BSE Midap and Smallcap indices were up 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

The overall market breadth was also fairly positive, with 2,021 stocks advancing versus 1,164 declining stocks on the BSE.

In the primary market, Star Health IPO was subscribed up to 56 per cent as of 2 PM.

Meanwhile, the European markets have started trade on a negative note. FTSE 100, DAX 30 and CAC 40 were down 0.7 per cent - 1.2 per cent each.
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Markets at Lunch (01:30 PM)

LIVE market update: The key benchmark indices continued to hover near the high's of the day on the back of strong gains in IT and financial shares. HDFC alone has contributed almost one-third of the gains for the BSE benchmark.

The Sensex was up 488 points at 58,173, and the NSE Nifty had gained 150 points at 17,317.

HDFC had surged nearly 4 per cent to Rs 2,810. PowerGrid Corporation, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Tata Steel were the other major gainers among the Sensex 30 stocks. On the flip side, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were the prominent losers.

In the broader markets, BEML has surged 10 per cent in intra-day trade to Rs 2,041 amid heavy volumes after Brickwork Ratings India assigned BWR AA ratings to the company’s bank loan facilities with stable outlook. The stock has gained as much as 31 per cent in the last six trading sessions. READ MORE

Elsewhere in Asia the major markets exhibited a mixed trend. Kospi had surged 1.6 per cent. Hang Seng and Taiwan were up 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively. While on the other hand, Nikkei had slipped 0.7 per cent. Shanghai and Straits Times were down 0.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
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Markets at 11 AM

LIVE market update: Powered by a rally in HDFC (up 3.3 per cent), HDFC Bank, RIL, and Infosys, the BSE headline index zoomed 389 points to quote at 58.067 levels. The index hit a high of 58,133 earlier today.

The Nifty50, on the other hand, was at 17,282, up 115 points.

Other top gainers on the indices were Power Grid, Sun Pharma, BPCL, Grasim, IOC, Titan, and Asian Paints.

Among the lot, shares of PowerGrid Corporation hit a record high of Rs 214.80, up 4 per cent on the BSE in Thursday, as robust project pipeline provides earnings visibility for 2-3 years for the company. READ MORE

In the broader market, shares of Vodafone Idea (VIL) were trading higher for the second straight day, up 6 per cent at Rs 13.40 on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade, and have rallied as much as 21 per cent in past two days on the back of heavy volumes. READ MORE

Primary market update
Star Health and Allied Insurance: Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed company's issue has been subscribed 22 per cent so far on final day. Retail portion has been subscribed 95 per cent.

Tega Industries: The IPO has been subscribed 6 times with retail portion's subscription at 10x; NII at 5.3x; and QIB at 7 per cent.

Anand Rathi Wealth: The issue has been subscribed 41 per cent so far on the first day of the issue. 

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Markets at 10 AM

LIVE market updates: Recovery in banking counters has lifted benchmark indices to day's high level in morning deals. 

The BSE Sensex was at 58,017, up 331 points or 0.58 per cent. The Nifty50 index, too, climbed atop 17,250-mark, up 95 points.

The MidCap index is underperforming the benchmark with the index on the BSE up just 0.3 per cent. The SmallCap index is in-line with large-cap peers.

Shares of JMC Projects (India), for instance, soared 17 per cent to Rs 106.80 on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade after the company announced that it has secured new domestic orders worth of Rs 1,795 crore. READ MORE

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Opening Bell

LIVE market updates: Indian equities started higher on Thursday amid mixed global cues. The S&P BSE Sensex started today's session at 57,818 level, up 133 points or 0.2 per cent. The Nifty50 opened at 17,210, up 43 points.

M&M (up over 2 per cent), HDFC, Power Grid, Titan, and Sun Pharma were leading the list of gainers on the Sensex index. On the flipside, L&T (down 0.8 per cent), ICICI Bank, Nestle India, Axis Bank, and SBI were trading in the red.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices added 0.29 per cent and 0.22 per cent, respectively.

Among individual stocks, NDTV shares were locked at 5 per cent upper circuit after the company has signed an exclusive 10-year deal worth Rs 750 crore with Taboola – a global leader in powering content recommendations on the open web. 

Raymond was trading flat with a positive bias even as the company's board has approved the listing of its subsidiary JK Files & Engineering Ltd (JKFEL), a company that is in the business of auto parts.

Hero MotoCorp shares, meanwhile, were down half a per cent after the company reported a sharp 40.9 per cent YoY decline in November sales to 349,393 units as against 591,091 units sold in November 2020.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal and Bank indices were down 0.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively. On the upside, the Nifty Auto and Pharma indices were up 0.7 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

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Pre-open session

LIVE market updates: Benchmark indices were trading with a positive bias in the pre-open session. The BSE Sensex was up 96 points at 57,781 levels at 9:07 AM while the Nifty50 was at17,183, up 16 points.

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(Updated at 8:18 AM)

LIVE market updates: Lack of domestic triggers will keep investors hooked to global cues for trading on Thursday. 

Stocks in Asia-Pacific were struggling for direction, as concerns over the economic impact of the omicron Covid variant continue to weigh on investor sentiment.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.18 per cent, reversing earlier losses. Mainland Chinese stocks also recovered from earlier declines, with the Shanghai composite up 0.12 per cent and the Shenzhen component edged 0.178 per cent higher.

Elsewhere, the Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 1 per cent while the Topix index shed 0.7 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7 per cent.

Stocks on Wall Street saw a sharp reversal overnight after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of omicron in the US.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.34 per cent while the S&P 500 declined 1.18 per cent. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.83 per cent.

At 8:10 AM, SGX Nifty was at 17,146, compared with Nifty's spot close of 17,167 of Wednesday.

Primary market

Star Health and Allied Insurance Company's IPO is struggling to garner bids. The offering was subscribed 20 per cent on Wednesday at the end of Day 2 of its offer period. 

Tega Industries IPO however was subscribed 4.7 times at the end of Day 1 itself. The retail portion was subscribed 7.5 times, and the wealth investor quota 4.2 times.

The wealth management arm of Anand Rathi Financial Services, Anand Rathi Wealth, will launch its initial public offering on Thursday. The price band for the offer has been fixed at Rs 530-550 per share and the company aims to mobilise Rs 660 crore.