Sensex, Nifty firm up gains in opening session

Mumbai: The BSE gauge Sensex rose over 277 points in opening deals on Tuesday, tracking overall buoyancy in global markets led by record-setting US stocks.

Continuing its winning momentum, the 30-share benchmark opened with significant gains and saw further consolidation as the trade progressed. In initial deals the Sensex was trading at 59,461.07 clocking a gain of 277.85 points or 0.47 per cent.

Likewise, the NSE Nifty advanced 80.40 points or 0.46 per cent to 17,706.10.

In the previous session, which was also the first trading day of 2022, the Sensex soared about 930 points to end at 59,183; while the Nifty jumped around 272 points to settle at 17,626.

On Tuesday, the prominent gainers on the Sensex chart were NTPC, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, SBI, Bajaj Finance and RIL rising as much as 2.31 per cent.

On the other hand, shares of HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Infosys were among the major laggards.

"US markets setting record highs on the first trading day of 2022 is auspicious for global stock markets. The spectacular 271 point rally in Nifty and FIIs turning buyers with net



purchases worth Rs 703 crore are bullish signals, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

If the FIIs buying of Monday is an indication of their renewed interest in India, financials particularly the leading banks, are likely to continue the momentum witnessed in the previous session, he added.

However, the third wave of the pandemic is an area of concern even though the market's view is that it is unlikely to impact economic activity, Vijayakumar opined.

He further said the big headwind for markets globally is the rising inflation which may be further aggravated by the dislocations caused by the Omicron variant.

Elsewhere in Asia, on Tuesday, bourses were trading higher tracking record gains in US equities on the first trading day of 2022.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.27 per cent to USD 79.19 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, with purchase of shares worth Rs 575.39 crore, exchange data showed.