Stocks may open on firm note

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Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 83 points at the opening bell. 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.

Domestic markets

Back home, the domestic equity benchmarks ended near the day’s high after a strong session on Wednesday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 1,016.03 points or 1.76% to 58,649.68. The Nifty 50 index jumped 293.05 points or 1.71% to 17,469.75.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 579.27 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,735.50 crore in the Indian equity market on 8 December, provisional data showed.