Indices close near days high; Nifty above 17,800; ONGC and NTPC emerge as top gainers

Market update at 3.30 PM: Indices rallied for yet another day as Nifty closed at 17,805 while Sensex surged about 650 points. We witnessed a spectacular rally towards the end as Nifty shot up by about 100 points in the last hour of the trade. Moreover, India VIX has slipped over 2 per cent. 

Banking indices steal the show as Nifty Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Private Bank climbed over 1 per cent each. Moreover, Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap ended marginally higher.  

With the current rally, the PCR for this week stands at 1.51, indicating bullish sentiment among the market players. The highest addition of put open interest is seen at 17,700 and thus, this level will remain strong support for the current expiry. 

Market update at 12.15 PM: Nifty is trading near the day’s high amid volatility. Sensex has surged about 380 points. With huge volatility seen during the initial hour of today’s session, the indices seem to be gaining momentum on the higher side as Nifty is up by 0.6 per cent. Banking stocks are major contributors to Nifty's rally. 

Bank Nifty has surged about 1 per cent while Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma & Nifty Metal are trading lower. India VIX has slipped about half a per cent. 

The top stocks supporting Nifty are ONGC, NTPC, and SBI while Tata Motors, Cipla & Infosys are weaker today. 

The highest call addition has taken place at 18,000. Coincidentally, the 18,000 call option has the highest open interest while in the case of puts, the maximum open interest is seen at 17,500. Thus, we might expect Nifty to trade between this range for the next couple of days. 

Market update at 10 AM: It has been quite a volatile start for the Indian market as the indices make huge swing in both the directions. Nifty hit a low of 17,594 and shot up 100 points in a matter of just 45 minutes. 

 The banking indices like Nifty Bank, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Private Bank are frontrunners in supporting the market while Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma are dragging the market. 

Nifty Midcap is marginally higher while Nifty Smallcap is trading flat amid volatility.  

It has been a tug-of-war between bulls & bears and the intraday players await for a more clear trend. 

Pre-market update: Asian markets have opened mixed, and SGX Nifty indicates flat to positive opening for Nifty. 

Last night, Dow Jones and S&P 500 hit a fresh all-time high while the US markets ended over 1 per cent higher. 

Omicron remains a concern for India as the cases rise steeply with the country reporting nearly 35,000 cases on January 3. Thus, imposition of restrictions will remain a worry for the coming days. 

On the last trading day, FIIs and DIIs both turned buyers as FIIs bought for Rs 902 crore while DIIs bought about Rs 803 crore worth of equity. 

Rupee showed a good performance on Monday as it outperformed every other currency. The USD-INR pair currently trades at 74.26.

With FIIs turning buyers for the second straight day, we might expect banks to outperform the market for some more time.