Sensex, Nifty turn range bound; auto stocks extend gains

Domestic indices traded in a narrow range with modest gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty hovered around the 14,950 level. All sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green. At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 343.89 points or 0.70% to 49,550.50. The Nifty 50 index rallied 123.05 points or 0.83% at 14,946.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.9% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.1%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,065 shares rose and 981 shares fell. A total of 224 shares were unchanged.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 15,83,34,639 with 32,93,120 deaths. India reported 37,45,237 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,46,116 deaths while 1,86,71,222 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana extended their ongoing lockdowns till 17 May 2021 to curb the unprecedented surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Puducherry have also announced two-week shutdown starting today, while in Karnataka's stringent lockdown has come into effect on today till 24 May 2021. On Saturday, Kerala came under a nine-day complete lockdown.

Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said that 1.5 lakh doses of 'Sputnik V' COVID-19 vaccine have reached India and Russian Direct Investment Fund has tied up with local Indian companies for bulk production.

In view of COVID-19, the government has relaxed the provisions of Income-tax Act. Now, all hospitals, nursing units, dispensaries and COVID care centres will be able to accept cash over two lakh rupees from the patients. Patient and the payee will have to submit PAN and Aadhaar for such payments. The relaxation has been granted between 1st April to 31st May this year.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index added 1.4% to 9956.90, extending its winning run to fourth consecutive trading session. The index has rallied nearly 4% in four days.

Tata Motors (up 3.96%), Motherson Sumi Systems (up 3.47%), Balkrishna Industries (up 2.3%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.03%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.62%), Escorts (up 1.6%) and Eicher Motors (up 1.37%) were top gainers in auto segment.

Federation of Automobile Dealer Associations (FADA) released vehicle registration data for the month of April 2021. Total vehicle registration for the month of April 2021 plummeted by nearly 28.15% month on month to 11,85,374 units from 16,49,678 units registered in March 2021. Two-wheeler vehicle registrations were at 8,65,134 vehicles (down 27.63% YoY), three-wheeler vehicle registrations were at 21,636 vehicles (down 43.11% YoY), commercial vehicle registrations were at 51,436 vehicles (down 23.65% YoY), passenger vehicles came at 2,08,883 units (down 25.33%) in April 2021 over March 2021.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee fell to 73.3650 compared with its previous closing of 73.5175.

MCX Gold futures for 4 June 2021 settlement rose 0.33% to Rs 47,909.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.13% to 90.1.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for July 2021 settlement rose 53 cents to $68.81 a barrel. The contract increased by 0.28% to settle at $68.28 in the previous trading session.

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