The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1400 stocks were trading in the green, while 503 stocks were in the red. According to experts, “Just as the nation pays homage to Manmohan Singh, the architect of liberalization in India, investors should be grateful for the wealth generated by the Indian stock market after the introduction of liberalization in 1991.”
The Sensex, which was around 1,000 in 1991, has since grown 780 times to trade above 78,000 and is now providing excellent returns to long-term investors. “The market will continue to deliver better returns to investors in the coming years as the India growth story, driven by liberalisation, is very much intact,” he noted.
Nifty Bank was up 223.25 points or 0.44 percent at 51,393.95. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 57,308.60, up 182.90 points or 0.32 percent. The Nifty Small Cap 100 index was up 80.80 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 18,809.45. On the sectoral front, selling was seen in the IT sector.
Among the Sensex pack, Indus Bank, Tata Motors, Zomato, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, SBI and M&M were the top gainers. While HCL Tech, Titan, TCS, L&T and Sun Pharma were the biggest losers. The Dow Jones gained 0.07 percent to close at 43,325.80. The S&P 500 fell 0.04 percent to 6,037.60 in the previous trading session and the Nasdaq fell 0.05 percent to 20,020.36.
In Asian markets, China and Japan were trading in the green while Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the red. “The strongest headwinds for the market now are FII selling on strong dollar (dollar index staying above 108) and attractive US bond yields with 10-year yield at 4.35 per cent,” experts said.
“The shift in FII’s strategy from sell to buy will happen when macros indicate recovery in growth and corporate earnings,” he added. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equity worth Rs 2,376.67 crore on December 26, while domestic institutional investors bought equity worth Rs 3,336.16 crore on the same day.