MUMBAI, Jan 2 (PTI): Equity benchmarks began the New Year on a strong note, with the Sensex climbing 327 points and the Nifty finishing near the 18,200-mark on Monday as positive macroeconomic data and a firm trend in European equities bolstered investor sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 327.05 points or 0.54 per cent to settle at 61,167.79. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 92.15 points or 0.51 per cent to 18,197.45.
Tata Steel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, vaulting 5.86 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Infosys, NTPC and Bharti Airtel.
However, Asian Paints, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and SBI were among the laggards, losing as much as 1.47 per cent.
The market breadth was firmly in favour of the bulls, with 22 advances and only 8 declines.
Robust GST collections last month indicate resilience of the economy, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) grew 15 per cent to Rs 1.49 lakh crore in December 2022, indicating improved manufacturing output and consumption demand, besides better compliance.
India’s manufacturing sector activity rose to a 13-month high in December, supported by healthy inflows of new business and strong demand conditions, according to a monthly survey.
“Markets welcomed 2023 on a high spirit in the absence of global cues. Strong macros and expectations of healthy corporate earnings provided the support to domestic equities…
“Going forward, we expect the market to remain steady with a positive bias ahead of the December quarterly results and run up to the crucial Union Budget in February. This should drive sector specific action in the market,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.
In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge rose 0.84 per cent and midcap index advanced 0.57 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, metal jumped 2.83 per cent, telecommunication climbed 1.32 per cent, services (1.08 per cent), commodities (1.23 per cent), realty (0.99 per cent) and industrials (0.76 per cent).
Consumer durables and power indices closed in the red.
World stocks were largely in the positive territory in holiday-thinned trading.
In Asia, equity markets in Seoul ended lower, while bourses in Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong were closed.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the green in mid-session deals. Markets in the US had ended lower on Friday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 2.94 per cent to USD 85.91 per barrel.
The rupee declined 14 paise to close at 82.75 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday amid rising crude oil prices and sustained foreign fund outflows.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,950.89 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
