D-St cheers drop in Covid cases; Sensex up 296 pts; pharma, metal stks gain

India VIX eased nearly 3 per cent to 20.23 levels

Stock market updates: A sharp drop in daily Covid-19 cases perked up bulls on Dalal Street on Monday as investors hoped for sooner-than-expected taper down of the second wave. However, even though the new case count, at over 366,000 new infections and 3,754 deaths reported by the health ministry, were off a little from recent peak, it came on the back of 1.47 million tests for Covid-19 which were this month's lowest yet.

Nonetheless, domestic equity indices started gap-up and remained parked near day's high level for better part of the day. Among the frontline indices, the BSE barometer of 30-shares hit an intra-day high of 49,617 before ending the session at 49,502 levels, up 296 points or 0.6 per cent. About seven of the 30 constituents ended the day in the red including UltraTech Cement, Infosys, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, and Axis Bank. The stocks declined up to 1.3 per cent.

On the upside, L&T, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, NTPC, PowerGrid, and IndusInd Bank were the top index gainers, up between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 index reclaimed the crucial 14,900-mark and extended it rally to as high as 14,967 during the day. It ended the day at 14,942 levels, up 119 points or 0.8 per cent, riding on the back of gains in Coal India, UPL, Hindalco, Indian Oil Corporation, Tata Motors, L&T, and Divis Labs. These stocks rallied up to 8 per cent.

Sectorally, the Nifty Metal and Pharma indices zoomed 3 per cent each on the NSE with the Nifty Pharma index hitting an all-time high of 14,228 in the intra-day deals today. Since April, the Nifty Pharma index has outperformed the market by surging 15 per cent, as against a 1.7 per cent gain in the Nifty50 index. READ MORE

That apart, metal stocks ruled at the bourses today as Copper continued to breach record high levels across exchanges amid surge in demand. On the MCX, the metal surpassed the Rs800 levels whilst prices on the LME continued to hover near its all time high of $10,638. Consequently, MOIL, NMDC, Coal India, Hindalco, Nalco, Vedanta, and Tata Steel jumped up to 8 per cent on the NSE today.

Meanwhile, all other sectoral indices were up in the range of 0.02 per cent (Nifty IT index) to 1.6 per cent (Nifty Auto index).

Overall, the market breadth favoured bulls in the ratio of 2:1 aided by an outperformance in the broader markets. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices gained 1 per cent each today.

Global markets

World stocks ticked up to new peaks on Monday on bets interest rates will remain low and the economies will continue their recovery. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe hit a fresh record high and was up 0.1 per cent. 

Europe’s STOXX 600 regional benchmark was up 0.1 per cent in early deals, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent.

In the commodities market, however, oil prices rose after a cyber attack shut down a US pipeline operator that provides nearly half of the US east coast's fuel supply. Brent crude rose 0.5 per cent to $68.64 per barrel, while US crude ticked up 0.5 per cent to $65.23 a barrel.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:50 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities

Indian benchmark equity indices closed higher for the fourth straight session on May 10. Nifty opened gap up and remained largely in a 50 point band through the day. At close, the Nifty was up 119.20 points or 0.80% at 14,942.40.

 

Nifty has made another upgap in succession but ended with a doji for the second consecutive session, indicating partial profit taking towards the close especially as it approached 15,000. Investors are mindful of the market fallout as state after state locks itself down in India to contain the spread of the coronavirus as infections and deaths surge and hence keep taking profits rotationally. 15044-14863 is the band for the Nifty in the near term.  

4:40 PM

TECH VIEW :: Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities

The short term trend of Nifty continues to be positive with range bound action. The lack of selling interest at the hurdle could mean more upside possibility in the short term. The upside momentum is likely to pick up on a sustainable move above 15100 levels and that could open potential upside targets of around 15700 levels in the coming weeks. Any failure to move above the hurdle could bring minor profit booking from the highs and formation of another higher bottom.

4:28 PM

TECH VIEW :: Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking

Technically, the nifty index has faced resistance from the falling trendline as well as the upper band of Bollinger, which suggests crossing above the same can show an upside movement. Moreover, the index has given closing above the 21- Days Moving Average, which points out strength in the index. A momentum indicator RSI &MACD has indicated positive crossover, which supports the bullish trend for the near term. At present, the nifty index is holding support at 14760 levels while an upside resistance seems at 15000 levels.

4:21 PM

TECH VIEW :: Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Index opened a day with good gap but traded range-bound throughout day and closed a day at 14942 with gains of nearly one per cent & formed a small bullish candle on the daily chart. Strong hurdle still at 15050 zones if managed to sustain above for a day or give any close above said levels then only we may see further upside otherwise some profit booking possible, support are shifted to 14900-14850 zone holding above said levels momentum good

4:15 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking

Markets started the week on a firm note on the back of positive global cues. The Nifty index traded with a positive bias throughout the session and ended higher by 0.8% at 14,942 levels. The broader markets too witnessed healthy buying interest as both Midcap and Smallcap ended higher by 1% each. Amongst the sectors, except IT which ended with minor losses, all the other indices ended in the green wherein metals, capital goods and healthcare were the top gainers.

 

We remain cautiously optimistic on the back of rotational buying in select index majors amid the rising COVID cases. Besides, buoyant global cues are also helping in limiting the downside. Going forward, earnings announcement, macroeconomic data viz. IIP, CPI and WPI data along with COVID-19 updates would remain on participants' radar. Meanwhile, we suggest continuing with the "buy on dips" approach and focusing more on selection of stocks.

4:10 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Domestic bourses continued to ride on its optimistic wave mirroring strong across-the-board buying with metals, auto and pharma stocks leading the rally. U.S job growth significantly slipped its April forecast signalling sluggish momentum in the labour market while a cyber attack hiked the US oil prices. Despite a decline in April auto sales numbers due to the impact of covid lockdowns, the auto sector managed to stay afloat owing to its long term positive outlook

4:03 PM

BSE Snapshot :: M-cap of all BSE listed firms climbs above Rs 213-trillion mark

4:00 PM

BSE Snapshot :: Top losers of the day

4:00 PM

BSE Snapshot :: Top gainers of the day

3:56 PM

Sector Watch :: IT index ends flat dragged by Coforge, LTI; Wipro, Tech M limit losses

3:54 PM

Sector of the day :: Pharma stocks zoom; index hits record peak

3:53 PM

Sector of the day :: Nifty Metal index extends rally

3:49 PM

NSE Snapshot :: Top Nifty50 gainers today

3:47 PM

L&T, financials top Sensex contributors today

3:45 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE