The key equity benchmarks further pared gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading below the 17,900 mark. Hotel stocks were in demand after the government said that it will soon start issuing tourist visas.
At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 254.27 points or 0.43% to 59,932.10. The Nifty 50 index added 74.65 points or 0.42% to 17,865.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.49%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1719 shares rose and 1437 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.
Investors rejoiced after the RBI kept the repo and reverse repo rates unhanged and continued its 'accommodative' stance.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.84% to 15.86. The Nifty 28 October 2021 futures were trading at 17,851, at a discount of 14 points as compared with the spot at 17,865.
The Nifty option chain for 28 October expiry showed maximum Call OI of 20.6 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 34.7 lakh contracts was seen at 17,000 strike price.
Buzzing Segment:
Shares of six hotel companies advanced after the Union Government announced its decision to start the issue of tourist visas from 15 October 2021.
The Central Government had been receiving representations from several State Governments as well as various stakeholders in the tourism sector to start Tourist Visas also, to allow foreign tourists to come to India.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it has decided to begin granting of fresh tourist visas for foreigners coming to India through chartered flights with effect from 15 October 2021. Foreign tourists entering into India by flights other than chartered aircraft would be able to do so only with effect from 15 November 2021 on fresh Tourist Visas.
As per media reports, the Indian hotel industry is witnessing a consistent and rapid recovery in occupancies after a dull period amid the second wave of COVID-19. Further, a recovery in the business travel and permitting foreign tourist to travel in India would further give a boost to the occupancies in the quarters ahead, media reports said.
Lemon Tree Hotels (up 5.67%), Royal Orchid Hotels (up 4.32%), EIH (up 3.95%), Indian Hotels Company (up 3.39%), Chalet Hotels (up 3%), and Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts (up 2.92%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Bajaj Auto were trading 0.28% higher at Rs 3,839.65. the auto maker said that has resigned from the position of chief financial officer of the company to explore other opportunities. The same has been accepted by the company. His last date in the company will be 20 December 2021. The company further added that it is in the process of identifying and appointing a suitable person for the said position.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India jumped 5.77% to Rs 1927.80. On the BSE, over 1.96 lakh shares of the company were traded in the counter so far as against an average trading volume of 0.61 lakh shares.
The Power Ministry said on Thursday said that the resolution of the jurisdiction issue between market regulator SEBI and electricity regulator CERC will further deepen the power market and pave the way for the introduction of longer duration delivery-based contracts on exchanges.
The resolution has opened the gate for introduction of longer duration delivery-based contracts on the power exchanges which has been currently restricted to only 11 days due to the pendency of the case, the ministry informed. This will further deepen the power market from the present level of approx. 5.5% of the volume to the targeted volume of 25$ by 2024-25.
The commodity exchanges viz. MCX etc. can now introduce financial products viz. electricity futures etc. which will enable discoms and other large consumers to effectively hedge their risks of power procurement, it stated.
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