Investors dump FMCG for financials; Sensex gains 375 pts, ends above 48K

Stock market LIVE updates: A steep gap-down opening was quickly bought into as supportive global cues and expectations that the mass vaccination drive would help curtail the raging second Covid-19 wave in the country gave ammunition to the bulls. From the day's low of 47,204, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex bounced back over 900 points to hit a high of 48,143 on the back of a brisk-buying in financial and metal counters. 

By close, the BSE barometer was at 48,081 levels, up 375 points or 0.79 per cent. The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, gained 255 points higher from the day's low to settle at 14,406, up 110 points or 0.77 per cent. 

About 18 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 27 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty ended the day in the green with Wipro, ICICI Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, and BPCL topping the charts on the latter. On the Sensex, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and SBI were the additional gainers. All these stocks were up in the range of 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

On the downside, Shree Cement, Titan, Tata Consumer Products, HUL, Nestle India, Asian Paints, and Ultratech Cement ended the day as top laggards on the Nifty, down up to 3 per cent.

Fund rotation was evident during the last hour of trade as banking counters turned winners from laggards on the NSE. From a low of 30,555 hit earlier in the day, the Nifty Bank index ended at 31,783, up 2.15 per cent. Meanwhile, the Nifty Financial Services, Private Bank, and Metal indices gained 2.2 per cent, 1.8 per cent, and 1.7 per cent, respectively.

On the contrary, pharma and IT stocks pared their gains and ended in the red today. All the three defensive indices -- Nifty IT, FMCG, and Pharma -- slipped up to 0.75 per cent on the NSE. 

The broader markets, however, underperformed at the bourses with the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closing 0.28 per cent and 0.59 per cent higher, respectively.

Global markets
Global stocks ground higher while oil ebbed on Thursday as investors diverged over whether to bet on economic recovery in the United States and other developed markets or worry about a surge in Covid-19 cases in India and elsewhere.

MSCI’s broadest global gauge of stocks was up 0.2 per cent in early European deals, while Europe’s top indexes posted stronger gains ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy outcome. The broad STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.5 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 2.4 per cent and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 per cent.

(With inputs from Reuters)

4:17 PM

MARKET CLOSING COMMENT :: Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

Nifty opened lower and even broke below Tuesday's low bogged down by worries on rising infections. But that the opening cuts were not too deep, encouraged bargain hunters, who also took cues from fall in US Treasury yields as well as strength in the US as well as Asian equity markets. Metals led the gains, with +2% gain by noon, but it was a bounce in the banking stocks that gave strength to the forenoon's upsides

4:12 PM

TECH VIEW :: Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research

The market witnessed some swift recovery from its short-term support around the Nifty50 Index level of 14200.  The expected level should range between 14200 and 14500, and it’s going to be crucial for the short-term market scenario to break the zone. Though technical evidence is not supporting any bullish momentum, the market may hover in this range, eying on the possibilities for improvement in the new COVID-19 infection. The government plans the vaccination to be more inclusive starting from May first week onward

4:09 PM

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

Again index showed a good pull back from its strong support and managed to close a day on a positive note at 14400 zone with gains of nearly one percent forming a bullish candle on the daily chart. On the higher side index has stiff hurdle at 14450-14500 zone if managed to sustain above 14500 then we may see the extension in current pullback towards 4700-14900 zone in near term but it failed to hold above 14500 zone then again profit booking can be seen from higher-end towards immediate support zone of 14350-14250 zone

4:05 PM

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

Amid increasing covid-19 cases, the domestic market recovered from its early losses backed by positive cues from global markets. The market has been going through a correction phase following increasing covid cases, in spite of the optimism due to vaccination drives. Though earnings outcome is expected to have stock-specific movements in the coming days, broader movement in the market will depend on fall in Covid cases.

4:01 PM

MARKET RECAP :: S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities

In a volatile session, Markets ended on a positive note on Thursday despite the country recording its highest daily covid spike as investors focused on broad basing of the vaccination program. In today's trade, the steely resolve displayed by Steel Stocks yet again was the key highlight

3:59 PM

BSE Snapshot :: M-cap of all BSE listed firms rises to Rs 202.6 trillion

3:53 PM

Sector of the day :: 11 of the 15 Nifty FMCG constituents end in the red

>> Varun Beverages, Godrej Consumer, Emami Ltd, HUL, Tata Consumer Products, and Nestle India ended as top laggards, down up to 4 per cent.
 

3:51 PM

Sector of the day :: Here are the top gainers on the Nifty Bank index

3:48 PM

BSE snapshot :: Highest volume-based buying

3:46 PM

Stocks that helped Sensex recoup losses

3:44 PM

Sectoral trends on the NSE :: Investors prefer financials over defensives

3:43 PM

Sensex Heatmap :: Over 50% index constituents end the day in the green

3:41 PM

CLOSING BELL :: Sensex ends near day's high amid one-way rally

3:35 PM

CLOSING BELL

From the day's low of 47,204, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex bounced back over 900 points to hit a high of 48,143 on the back of a brisk-buying in financial and metal counters. 

 

By close, the BSE barometer was at 48,081 levels, up 375 points or 0.79 per cent. The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, gained 255 points higher from the day's low to settle at 14,406, up 110 points or 0.77 per cent. 

3:21 PM

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