MARKET WRAP: Sensex takes a breather, gains 1,628 pts; Nifty ends at 8,745

All that happened in markets today

After days of brutal sell-off, the domestic equity market witnessed a sharp rebound on Friday and ended with around 6 per cent gains as positive global cues and coordinated efforts by countries across the globe to fight coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic soothed investors' nerves.

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 1,628 points or 5.75 per cent to settle at 29,916. Of 30 constituents, 28 advanced and just 2 declined. Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC and TCS contributed the most to the index's gains. ONGC jumped over 18.5 per cent to Rs 72.45 apiece. It ended as the top gainer on the index. Other heavyweights such as RIL, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and TCS gained in the range of 10-12 per cent. 

On the downside, HDFC Bank slipped over 1 per cent to Rs 882 after global brokerage house Bernstein downgraded the stock to 'underperform' and sharply slashed the target price to Rs 750 from Rs 1,400 earlier. READ MORE

On the NSE, headline index Nifty gained 482 points or 5.83 per cent to settle at 8,745 levels. 

On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty slipped over 12 per cent. 

All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Nifty FMCG advanced the most - up around 9 per cent to 26,073 levels while Nifty IT surged over 8.5 per cent to 12,306 points. Metal stocks, too, witnessed solid buying as the Nifty Metal index ended 7.7 per cent higher at 1,695 levels.

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped around 5 per cent to 12,642 levels while the Nifty SmallCap index gained over 2 per cent to 3,874 points. 

Market breadth was in favour of buyers as out of 2,605 companies traded on the BSE, 1,447 advanced and 1,008 declined while 150 remained unchanged. Volatility index India VIX declined over 7 per cent to 66.92 levels. 

Global Markets

Asian shares made a partial comeback from a global rout on Friday but still nursed massive losses for the week, while bonds rallied and oil extended its gains. European stocks, too, opened on a positive note. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 4.41 per cent higher, ending a seven-sessions streak of losses.  

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:36 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research at HDFC Securities

Markets bounced back sharply on Friday after four sessions of daily negative closings. Despite Fitch Ratings halving 2020 global growth forecast to 1.3 per cent from 2.5 per cent, the fact that PBOC kept its benchmark rates steady gave some hopes to markets that situation in China is fast returning to normalcy. Asian and European markets traded higher again Friday as the first tentative signs of stabilisation are built upon. Markets tend to move ahead of the real world and bottom out well ahead of the real economy.

 

Technically, while the Nifty has bounced back, the short term trend remains down. The Nifty could resume its downtrend if the immediate support of 8,502 is broken. Any pullback rallies early next week could find resistances at 8,883-9,128

4:10 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE

4:10 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:40 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 1,628 points or 5.75 per cent to end at 29,916 while Nifty ended at 8,745, up 482 points or 5.83 per cent.

3:29 PM

MARKET UPDATE | Bharti Infratel zooms 23%, Escorts, Jubilant FoodWorks soar 21%

3:22 PM

Piramal Enterprises hits 52-week low of Rs 663, down 15% on the BSE

>> Stock has tanked 59% in one month from the level of Rs 1,599

3:21 PM

MARKET CHECK | Top gainers on the BSE at this hour

3:12 PM

YES Bank extends decline on profit-booking, tumbles 33% in two days

“A 1,000 million equity shares of Rs 2 each issued at a premium of Rs 8 issued to non-promoters on a preferential basis pursuant to YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, approved by Ministry of Finance, are listed and permitted to trade on the Exchange with effect from Thursday, March 19, 2020,” BSE said in a notice dated March 18, 2020. READ MORE

3:02 PM

Contribution to Sensex's gain today

2:59 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | Centrum Wealth on City Union Bank

Rating: BUY | Target Price: Rs 170

COVID-19 causing an economic activity standstill in Mar’20, could see the March and June quarter witness weak credit growth and stretched recoveries causing higher slippages. The next 2-4 weeks might determine the extent of virus proliferation in India and hence the time taken for economic recovery, which we see by H2FY21. Hence for FY21E we lower estimates on loan growth and raise our provisions which could impact FY21/22E PAT by 7.5%/5.3%. With the BFSI space/HDFC Bank correcting by 33% each we revise CUBK’s multiple/TP to 2.0x/Rs170 (vs 3.1x/Rs263 earlier).

Risks: further NIM compression and stress in the SME segment.

2:52 PM

Star Health, ICICI Lombard launch policies to cover Covid-19 patients

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company in an exchange filing after market hours yesterday announced that they have rolled out a focused COVID-19 Protection Cover.
 

The company said that amid the contagious pandemic, this policy on diagnosis of COVID-19 (+ve) will pay 100% of the sum insured irrespective of hospitalization expenses. The launched insurance policy is in group insurance mode. READ MORE
 

2:49 PM

NEWS ALERT | All fin institutions including banks, stock markets will continue to function: Maha Health Min to CNBC-TV18

2:48 PM

BUZZING STOCK:: Reliance Industries surges 10%

2:36 PM

Mukesh Ambani, wife, children marginally raise personal shares in RIL

Devarshi Commercials, a promoter group company, sold down its shareholding to Ambani family and other promoter group firms, Tattvam Enterprises and Samarjit Enterprises. After the transaction, Devarshi Commercials will hold 8.01 per cent stake, down from 11.21 per cent. READ MORE

2:32 PM

YES Bank tumbles 16%