Besides that, detection of tens of new strains of virus cases in India also seems to be having an affect. However, massive FII flows are keeping markets upbeats and losses in check.
“The bull run has continued on the back of FII flows which show no signs of abating. In fact, FII inflows may accelerate, going forward, since the weakness in the dollar continues with the dollar index dipping below 90,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“Investors need to be cautious since there is no comfort in valuations. The latest RBI report warns of the sharp deterioration in the asset quality of banks post-moratorium. This is likely to impact banking stocks, particularly the PSU bank stocks which have been rallying recently.”
Factors driving markets
-Vote on checks delayed: US Senate on Tuesday delayed a vote on President Donald Trump’s demand to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000, in a rare challenge to his fellow Republican three weeks before he vacates the White House. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the $600 stimulus checks that are part of a $2.3 trillion package signed into law last week would begin as soon as Tuesday evening.
-Covid-19 rages on: Coronavirus cases continue to soar globally, with Britain reporting the highest number of new infections since mass testing began in mid-2020, while the first case of a new infectious virus variant was found in the United States.
Vaccine rollout rushed: Meanwhile, vaccine rollouts in Europe gathered pace with the European Union set to buy an extra 100 million doses of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine.
How are bluechips doing
After opening in the green, benchmark indices drifted lower. At 9.54 am, BSE flagship Sensex was down 91 points or 0.19 per cent to 47,522. NSE benchmark Nifty followed and dipped 20 points or 0.15 per cent to 13,912.
“The markets seem a little nervous to hit the 14,000 mark. We have gone around that level yesterday and today. It is really a mere formality to achieve that as the Nifty seems poised to conquer 14,100 as a potential target. A good support lies at 13,600 so traders can consider buying into this trend during any intra day correction,” said Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.
In the 50-share pack Nifty, UPL was the biggest gainer, up 3.39 per cent. Eicher Motors, Tech Mahindra, SBI Life Insurance, HCL Tech, Coal India, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among other gainers.
SBI was the top loser in the pack, down 1.39 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Grasim Industries, Cipla, Tata Motors, Hindalco, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank were other losers in the pack.
Broader markets
Broader market indices also traded with cuts trading in line with their headline peers in morning trade. Nifty Smallcap fell 0.06 per cent while Nifty Midcap slipped 0.12 per cent. Broadest index on NSE, Nifty 500 was down 0.06 per cent.
GMR Infra, Balkrishna Industries, Syngene, EID Parry, Just Dial, Kalpataru Power were among major gainers from the space while Firstsource Solutions, SpiceJet, HEG Infra, Coromandel International, Nalco and Dalmia Bharat were under selling pressure.
Global markets
MSCI’s gauge of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan rose 0.6 per cent to hit a record high, led by gains in Chinese shares, bringing its gains so far this year to 18.2 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei share average lost 0.58 per cent on its last trading day of 2020 after jumping to a 30-year high on Tuesday. For the year, it was up 15.8 per cent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.13 per cent, paring much of the losses made in the previous day.
