The bull run that began after the low touched on December 20 has continued amid intermittent small correction and consolidation, lifting the market above the psychological 60,000-point level for the BSE Sensex and 17,900 for the Nifty50, thanks to positive global cues.
Both benchmarks rallied nearly 9 percent in 13 trading sessions (since the intraday low of December 20) to close at 60,223.15 and 17,925.25 points, respectively on January 5.
The Sensex gained .61 percent for the day. As a result, more than 400 stocks touched 52-week highs on January 5. These include Asian Paints, Astral, Balrampur Chini Mills, Esab India, GMR Infrastructure, Pidilite Industries, Poonawalla Fincorp, Radico Khaitan, Tata Communications, Triveni Engineering and Gujarat Fluorochemicals, which are part of A group companies on the BSE.
In the B group, A2Z Infra, Aarey Drugs, Aurionpro Solutions, Balkrishna Industries, CG Power, Digjam, Everest Industries, Globus Spirits, GRM Overseas, Kitex Garments, Monte Carlo Fashions, NRB Bearings, Prakash Steelage, Rama Steel Tubes, SPML Infra, Talbros Automotive, TD Power and Suryalakshmi Cotton Mills also hit a 52-week high.
Also read: Sensex reclaims 60k-mark; key factors behind the bull run
Among others, Ritco Logistics, Burnpur Cement, Consolidated Construction Consortium, DB Realty, FCS Software Solutions, Orient Green Power, Indo Thai Securities, Kernex Microsystems, LGB Forge, Megasoft, Rohit Ferro, Urja Global, Essar Securities, Gravity India and Tiger Logistics were at their year’s highs.
Buying by foreign institutional investors, who have been net buyers in the January series, so far, a holding off on lockdowns in the country indicating continuity of economic activity and expected strong earnings growth in third quarter boosted sentiment. Record highs in US markets and unlikely fresh Covid-19 restrictions in several countries indicating support to global growth have also helped.
Also read: Sensex reclaims 60K; investors generate Rs 20 lakh crore of wealth in 13 days
In fact, 2022 started off on a strong note and is expected to remain so amid consolidation and volatility, experts said.
“We remain optimistic and expect Nifty to deliver around 12-15 percent returns in 2022, supported by continuation of economic recovery and strong earnings growth. After the recent correction, the Nifty is now trading at around 20x 12-month forward PE which is no longer in the expensive zone,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head, retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
“While the market trend might be volatile in the near term on account of potential risk from the Omicron variant, upcoming budget and fragile global cues, in the long run, strong earnings delivery along with positive macroeconomic data would hold the key to drive markets upwards,” he added.
Technically, the Nifty continued to form a bullish candle on the daily charts and considering the current strong momentum, it may surpass the 18,000-mark soon, experts said. If it reclaims 18,000 on January 6, it would be a 1,400-point rally from the recent low in 14 trading sessions.
“The markets have witnessed an excellent start of the calendar year. However, we may see a breather now as the Nifty may find resistance around the 18,000-18,100 zone. Currently, banking and finance majors are leading from the front so their performance would hold importance to surpass that zone ahead,” Khemka said.
All the sectoral indices, barring IT and pharma (so-called defensives), powered the rally. The Nifty Bank and financial services indices gained more than 2 percent each, while auto and metal climbed over 1 percent each.
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