Indian equity markets inched higher on Wednesday, helped in great part by Reliance Industries (RIL), which ended over 10 per cent higher after the company announced that Facebook would invest Rs 43,547 crore ($5.7 billion) in the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Jio Platforms to expand its presence in India.
Among headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at 31,379.55, up 743 points or 2.42 per cent while the NSE's Nifty ended at 9,187.30, up 206 points or 2.29 per cent. Fear guage, India VIX, slipped around 5 per cent to 42.98 levels.
RIL settled at Rs 1,363.35 apiece on the BSE, up 10.30 per cent. It emerged as the biggest gainer on Sensex, followed by Asian Paints (up 5 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 3.7 per cent), and Maruti (up 3.6 per cent).
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap gained 0.78 per cent to 11,567 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index ended at 10,642, up 0.73 per cent.
On the sectoral front, auto and FMCG stocks made decent gains with Nifty Auto ending 2.5 per cent higher at 5,427 levels. Nifty FMCG also gained around 2.5 per cent to settle at 29,185. Nifty Bank rallied 1.5 per cent to 19,702-mark.
Nifty Media jumped nearly 7 per cent to 1,151 levels.
Buzzing stocks
Besides RIL, other stocks that made news on Wednesday were Asian Paints, RBL Bank, and Bajaj Healthcare, among others.
Shares of Asian Paints hit an over one-month high of Rs 1,817, up 5 per cent on the BSE on the back of historic drop in crude oil prices. It ended at Rs 1,813.
On the other hand, RBL Bank hit a new low of Rs 102, down 7 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade, falling 20 per cent in the past three trading days on concerns of weak net earnings. The stock of the private sector lender slipped below its previous low of Rs 105.60 touched on April 7, 2020. In the past two months, it has tanked 67 per cent despite management clarification that the bank is a well-capitalised and profitable entity. The stock ended at Rs 105, nearly 4 per cent lower.
Bajaj Healthcare ended over 9 per cent higher at Rs 301.40. It hit a record high during the day.
Global Markets
Oil slumped to less than $16 a barrel on Wednesday, hitting its lowest since 1999, with the market awash with excess supply as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to hammer demand for fuels.
Brent crude, which fell 24 per cent in the previous session, touched $15.98 a barrel, its lowest since June 1999. It was trading down $1.83, or 9.5 per cent, at $17.50 at the time of writing of this report.
US West Texas Intermediate CLc1 was down 15 cents, or 1.3 per cent, at $11.42.
Asian share markets were on the defensive on Wednesday as the crude oil prices collapsed, sparking worries about further turmoil in the energy sector, already reeling from the heavy blow from global shutdowns. European shares are on course to claw back earlier losses with pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 futures up 0.98 per cent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell as much as 1 per cent before erasing losses to last stand at 0.4 per cent higher while Japan’s Nikkei slumped 0.7 per cent.
 "Market Wrap, April 22: Here's all that happened in the markets today")
