The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) and broader 50-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded range bound with positive bias on Thursday morning.
At 10 a.m., Sensex traded at 57,882 points, up 0.1 per cent from its previous close of 57,806 points. It opened at 57,755 points.
Similarly, Nifty traded at 17,228 points, up 0.1 per cent from the previous close of 17,213 points. It opened at 17,220 points.
P&G, Wipro, Biocon, Bajaj Holdings, and Cadila Healthcare were some of the top gainers during the early trade, exchange data showed.
On the contrary, GAIL (India), Bajaj Auto, Adani Transmission, HDFC Asset Management Co shares were the top losers during the period.
Covid surge subdues sentiments
The rising domestic cases of Covid-19 also subdued investor sentiments this week. Initially, the indices were down in the first three days of the week though they recovered afterwards. However, they ceded all their gains and fell sharply during the last half hour of the day's trade on Wednesday.
Globally, markets paused their Christmas rally as investors became cautious with rising Omicron cases. On the domestic front, among sectors, except for pharma, auto and consumer durables, all other sectors ended in red with metal and media indices down by almost 1 per cent each.
Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed Wednesday at 57,806.49 points, down 90.99 points or 0.16 per cent from its previous close.
"Nifty found resistance on the downward sloping trend line adjoining previous swing highs on the daily chart. The 50 days EMA has also been acting as a hurdle for the Nifty at 17,340," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
"Nifty has got strong support at the 17,050 levels, derived from the upward sloping trend line, adjoining previous swing lows on the daily charts," he added.
According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services: "Markets are expected to remain sideways until the end of the year due to thin volume, lack of trigger and rising Omicron cases.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said: "Emergency use authorisation for Covid vaccines Corbevax and Covovax along with the clearance of anti-viral drug Molnupiravir for restricted use boosted the appetite for most pharma stocks today.
