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Domestic benchmark indices opened steady on the back of reduced FII selling, limited impact on global recovery due to the Omicron variant and policy support by the central bank that emphasized growth. However, the upside in today’s session could be limited due to the weekly expiry of derivatives contracts. In opening trades, Sensex jumped 182 points or 0.31% to 58,832. Similarly, Nifty was quoting above the 17,500-mark at 17,531 higher by 61 points or 0.35%.

“Today being weekly settlement day, the heightened market volatility of the last few days is likely to continue. Sustained FII selling had pushed the market to oversold territory, facilitating a sharp rebound when risk-on resumed globally. The ultra-dovish monetary policy turned out to be fodder for the charging bulls, forcing the bears to run for cover. A significant part of the 1016 point Sensex rally yesterday can be attributed to short covering by the cornered bears. The FII bearish view is not getting the traction they expected. This may be the reason why FII selling came down to just Rs 579 cr yesterday and was overwhelmed by the DII buying of Rs 1735 cr. Investors may take a wait and watch view now. Wait for the volatility to ebb and take a position based on emerging data,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Top gainers & losers on the Sensex.

Sectoral strand

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Media index surged 1.94% and Nifty Pharma index was trading with gains of 0.43%.

On the downside, Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal & Nifty Realty indices slipped anywhere between 0.10-0.75%.

Broader markets

The broader market were also trading flat as the BSE MidCap index was up 30 points or 0.12% to 25,540 and the BSE SmallCap was quoting at 28,928 gaining 144 points or 0.50%.

The market breadth was positive as 1,794 shares advanced compared to 1,011 declined and 115 remained unchanged.

Global markets

Overseas, most Asian stocks are trading higher on Thursday as traders bet the global recovery will be resilient to the new virus strain. Wall Street closed slightly higher on Wednesday with the three major indexes managing their third straight day of gains after test data showed the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech offered some protection against the new Omicron variant.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization on Wednesday said the variant could change the course of the pandemic. Scientists worldwide are scrambling to determine just how contagious and lethal omicron is and how effective would existing vaccines be against the virus.

While preliminary evidence from South Africa, where the variant was first identified, may suggest that omicron is milder than the delta strain, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19 says it is “too early to conclude” that.