Bulls return to D-St after 6 days; Sensex up 642 pts, Nifty tad below 14750

Mood on D Street changed after Moody's Analytics said India's economy is likely to grow by 12 per cent in CY2021 following a 7.1 per cent contraction last year

Stock market updates: Images on investors' trading screens turned around 180 degrees by the end of the session on Friday as bulls fought back to lift indices over a per cent higher. A drop in the US Treasury yield and a GDP growth upgrade by Moody's for India helped the markets snap 5-day losing streak.

Tracking sluggishness in the global markets, the domestic equity markets opened in a sea of red with the frontline indices dropping over a per cent. The dip was, however, quickly bought-into, pushing markets in the positive territory in less than 120 minutes into the trade. 

Mood in the global markets changed after the US Treasury yields slipped to 1.5 per cent from Thursday's high of 1.74 pe cent. Back home, Moody's Analytics said India's economy is likely to grow by 12 per cent in CY2021 following a 7.1 per cent contraction last year as near-term prospects have turned more favourable. 

Consequently, bulls reigned on Dalal Street for the first time in six days riding on the back of FMCG and metal counters. Both, the Nifty FMCG and Metal indices, ended over 2 per cent higher each, followed by gains in the Nifty Pharma and PSU Bank indices, up over 1 per cent. Other indices settled with less than a per cent gains, while the Nifty Realty index ended in the red, down 0.7 per cent.

Among the key headline indices, the 50-share barometer on the NSE closed above the 14,700-mark at 14,744 levels, up 186 points or 1.28 per cent. The 30-share benchmark Sensex, on the other hand, advanced 642 points, or 1.3 per cent, to end at 49,858 levels. In the intra-day deals, the Sensex and the Nifty touched 50,003 and 14,788, respectively jumping 1,416 and 350 points from day's low.

Individually, HUL, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, NTPC, UPL, Reliance Industries, Divis Labs, Gail, and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers on the Nifty, while L&T, Coal India, Tech M, Bajaj Auto, Titan, and ONGC ended as the top laggards.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closed 1.35 per cent and 0.4 per cent higher, respectively.

 

3:57 PM

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

Index closed a day on a positive note at 14745 with gains of more than one per cent and formed bullish piercing candle pattern on the daily chart which stands for a bullish reversal. Once nifty cross above 14800 zone bullish piercing pattern will get active and we may see a good move towards immediate hurdle zone of 14900-15000, supports still at 14650-14580 zone holding above said levels structure can be positive

3:57 PM

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

The highly volatile domestic markets witnessed a smart recovery from its morning weakness and was swinging between gains and losses during the day owing to strong buying seen in FMCG, Pharma and Energy stocks. However, auto stocks were under pressure after the announcement of the government's new scrapping policy. The unsettling pace of U.S bond yields and a surge in COVID cases worldwide resulted in the global markets trading deep in red

 

3:52 PM

Stocks that lifted the Sensex today

3:50 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE

3:48 PM

Sensex Heatmap at Close

3:37 PM

CLOSING BELL

Among the key headline indices, the 50-share barometer on the NSE closed above the 14,700-mark at 14,744 levels, up 186 points or 1.28 per cent. The 30-share benchmark Sensex, on the other hand, advanced 642 points, or 1.3 per cent, to end at 49,858 levels. In the intra-day deals, the Sensex and the Nifty touched 50,003 and 14,788, respectively jumping 1,416 and 350 points from day's low.

3:28 PM

Aarti Drugs advances 15% as board approves buyback at Rs 1,000 per share

The stock of the pharmaceutical company bounced back 17 per cent from the day’s low of Rs 670. At 03:00 pm; it was trading 10.5 per cent higher at Rs 755, as compared to a 1.4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. Trading volumes on the counter jumped an 10-fold with a combined 6.9 million equity shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE. READ MORE

3:18 PM

Burger King, PVR: Avoid these stocks as India sees second wave of Covid-19

Even before completing one year of Covid-19 lockdown, announced on March 24, 2020, India is seeing Covid-19 related restrictions including night curfews across various states, and mandatory institutional quarantine after inter-state travels back in place. In a recent turn of events, the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday ordered mandatory negative (COVID) test reports for mall visitors in Mumbai. READ MORE

3:06 PM

Strong rebound! Sensex jumps over 700 points

2:53 PM

Godrej Properties hits 7-week low; shares fall below QIP price of Rs 1,450

Shares of Godrej Properties (GPL) slipped 5 per cent to hit a seven-week low of Rs 1,273 on the BSE in Friday's intra-day trade, extending its decline to 17 per cent thus far in the month of March. The stock of Mumbai-based real estate developer was quoting lower for the sixth straight trading day. It has corrected 19 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 1,573 touched on March 1 and was currently trading at its lowest level since February 1. READ MORE

2:53 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Aarti drugs approves buyback at Rs 1000/share

The Buyback of up to 6,00,000 fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs. 10/- (Rupees Ten only) each of the Company, representing up to 0.64% of the total number of equity shares, at a price of Rs. 1,000 per share (including premium of Rs. 990/- per Equity Share) payable in cash for an aggregate amount of up to Rs 60 crore.

Click here for details

2:46 PM

India's economy may grow at 12% in 2021: Moody's

India's economy is likely to grow by 12 per cent in CY2021 following a 7.1 per cent contraction last year, as near-term prospects have turned more favourable, Moody's Analytics said.

 

A stronger than expected December quarter GDP growth of 0.4 percent following a 7.5 percent contraction in the previous three months has turned India's near-term prospects more favourable, it said.

Moody's saw real GDP growth of 12 percent in the 2021 calendar year, partially due to a low base-year comparison.

(Source: PTI)

2:37 PM

Market Check :: Sensex extends gains, rises over 500 points

2:31 PM

Stelis Biopharma raises $195 mn for vaccination unit, contract business

The company will use the money to scale up its vaccine unit in Bengaluru to cater to multiple vaccine types including viral vector, protein subunit, RNA and DNA. The unit will manufacture up to 800 million doses of vaccines annually, including Covid-19 vaccines. The company will also use the money for its contract manufacturing business, including ramping up a process development lab, other technical capabilities and debt servicing. READ MORE

2:24 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: RIL, ITC among top contributors to Sensex's gain today