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Indian markets finished a volatile session higher on Monday led by financial, IT and healthcare stocks. Today, the markets are likely to start session in green mirroring firm global cues. Traders will be taking encouragement with report that India’s exports in the first three weeks of December rose 36.20% on-year at $23.82 billion. Outbound shipments were 27.7% higher than the same period of 2019-20. Export excluding petroleum, oil and lubricants increased 28.08% over the corresponding period last year. However, there may be some cautiousness as the Centre extended the existing Covid-related restrictions in the country till January 31, 2022, in view of the rising cases of Covid-19 and Omicron variant in the country. On Monday, the number of Omicron cases in India rose to 578. Delhi and Maharashtra have reported 142 cases each. Traders may take note of a private report that spiralling prices pinched the pocket of consumer as edible oil, fuel and many other commodities turned dearer this year amid pandemic-induced disruptions but the inflationary pressure is anticipated to ease, though marginally, in the coming months. There will be some buzz in the auto stocks as to substitute India's petroleum imports, the government has advised automobile makers to start manufacturing flex-fuel vehicles and flex-fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles complying with BS-VI emission norms within six months. Telecom stocks will be in focus as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said commercial 5G services will be rolled out in 13 cities in India, including the metropolises, in 2022. Meanwhile, telecom service providers have demanded that the government keep 5G spectrum prices affordable to enable maximum industry participation. There will be some reaction in textile industry stocks despite demands from traders and states, the government is sticking to its decision to implement uniform goods and services tax (GST) rate at 12% on manmade fibre (MMF), MMF yarn, MMF fabrics and apparel from January 1, 2022. Banking stocks will be in limelight as the Centre-incorporated bad bank is likely to start operations from the second week of January, paving the way for a major clean-up of bad loans in the banking system. Besides, Supriya Lifescience shares will make their stock market debut on Tuesday, 28 December 2021. The Rs 700-crore IPO was subscribed 71.47 times. The IPO had a fresh issue of up to Rs 200 crore and an offer for sale of up to Rs 500 crore. It had a price range of Rs 265-274 per share.

The US markets ended higher on Monday as strong US retail sales underscored economic strength and eased worries from Omicron-driven flight cancellations that hit travel stocks. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Tuesday tracking record highs on Wall Street overnight following strong retail figures.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks staged a splendid recovery on Monday’s trade to end the session near intraday highs with frontline gauges ending above their crucial 57,400 (Sensex) and 17,050 (Nifty) levels. Markets made a pessimistic start as sentiment remained weak as several states such as Delhi, Karnataka, and Maharashtra enforce new restrictions in view of rising Covid-19 cases. Traders were concerned with a private report as it has penciled in an 8.2 per cent GDP growth next fiscal, with more downside risks to the projection, warning that the New Year will be riskier than the previous two in terms of growth, inflation and the perils of monetary policy normalisation on consumption demand in particular, along with other external risks. Meanwhile, investments in Indian capital market through participatory notes (P-notes) dropped to Rs 94,826 crore till November-end after hitting 43-month high in the preceding month. However, markets took U-turn and staged a decent comeback as traders opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Traders took some support after a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank, Jayanth R Varma expressed hope that in a few quarters from now, capital investment would begin to pick up even in the old economy, and said the next fiscal year is also expected to witness a decent growth. Traders took note of report that the GST regime will see a host of tax rate and procedural changes coming into effect from January 1, including liability on e-commerce operators to pay tax on services provided through them by way of passenger transport or restaurant services. Markets extended gains to end near intraday highs amid reports that Indian companies have mopped up more than Rs 9 lakh crore through equity and debt routes in 2021 to meet their renewed thirst for business expansion in a buoyant stock market brimming with liquidity and helped by recovering macroeconomic indicators after pandemic-ravaged first few months. Adding to the optimism, rating agency ICRA has said that the recent improvement in recovery of the non-performing assets (NPAs) and decline in provisioning of loans in the banking sector are expected to improve further in the coming year. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 295.93 points or 0.52% to 57,420.24 and the CNX Nifty was up by 82.50 points or 0.49% to 17,086.25

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