Markets Trades Higher, Eye Governor’s Speech

Benchmark indices opened the day higher, even as markets across Asian were flat, with some of the prominent ones shut. Talks of rising interest rates in the US could impact markets in Asia and across the region say analysts. The Sensex was trading with gains of around 0.75%, while the Nifty rallied around 0.80%.

Indian markets were also eyeing the speech of the RBI Governor scheduled for 10 am. His speech comes in the midst of soaring Covid-19 cases and may spell some measures on liquidity. However, analysts as such are not expecting any major policy changes.

Banking stocks were seeing some buying interest with stocks like ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank among the early gainers.

"We expect Nifty to trade in the range of 14200-15000 zone in the near term. So far the strong quarterly earnings season has been supportive to the market but the poor progress on the vaccination front is denting the sentiments. While Index is expected to remain range-bound, stock specific action is likely to continue. Investors should seize the opportunity of accumulating quality stocks during this volatility phase," Siddharta Khemka of Motilal Oswal.

Meanwhile, gold was trading flat as worries over rising interest rates, put some pressure on the precious metal.