Indian Shares Rising Sharply On Widespread Buying; Nifty On Course To Hit New Record High

Indian shares are up sharply Thursday morning with investors indulging in hectic buying almost across the board, taking cues from Wall Street where stocks moved up overnight despite the Federal Reserve’s somewhat hawkish stance.

The Fed hinted tapering of its asset purchases could begin in the near future amid continued progress towards it goals of maximum employment and price stability.

The Fed said a “moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted” if progress towards its dual goals continues broadly as expected.

During his post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank could begin tapering its asset purchases as soon as its next meeting in early November.

Markets are shrugging off concerns about Chinese real estate giant Evergrande’s debt woes, and seem to be betting on strong economic rebound from the pandemic.

Realty stocks are in demand once again. Bank, FMCG, energy and metal stocks are up with strong gains. Capital goods and consumer durables shares are also faring well, while information technology and healthcare stocks are turning in a mixed performance.

The The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex is up 597.23 points or 1.01% at 59,524.56, while the broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange is up 176.80 points or 1.01% at 17,723.45.

Coal India is surging up nearly 4%. Tata Motors, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFRC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, ONGC, Grasim Industries, Hindalco, Grasim Industries, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Industries are gaining 1.5 to 3%.

Infosys is modestly higher after the company announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services to develop quantum computing capabilities and use cases. As per the agreement, Infosys will use Amazon Braket to explore and build multiple use cases in quantum computing as part of Infosys Cobalt cloud offerings.

Bharti Airtel said in a regulatory filing that its Rs 21,000 crore rights issue will open on October 5. The company has fixed September 28 as the record data for rights entitlement in the issue. The stock is up marginally.

Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited shares are up 2.3% after the company won an arbitration award of about Rs 236 crore agains the Rwanda Energy Group.

Mphasis Ltd shares are up 1.8% after the company said it has acquired Seattle-based research, strategy and design firm Blink UX in an all-cash deal worth about $94 million.