The key barometer indices were trading in a narrow range near the day's high in afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading above 15,100 mark. All the sectoral indices on the NSE were in the green. Banks and financial shares were in demand.
At 13:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 669.20 points or 1.35% at 50,234.06. The Nifty 50 index jumped 194.55 points or 1.31% at 15,100.60.
HDFC Bank (up 2.95%), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) (up 2.39%) and ICICI Bank (up 2.29%) boosted the indices.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.83%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.77%.
Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,968 shares rose and 1,040 shares fell. A total of 149 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 71.04 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 876.06 crore in the Indian equity market on 20 May 2021, provisional data showed.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 16,55,47,299 with 34,30,890 deaths. India reported 30,27,925 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,91,331 deaths while 2,27,12,735 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 3 lakh for the fifth consecutive day with 2.59 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, according to health ministry's updated data on Friday. This as deaths remained over 4,000.
Economy:
The 589th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was held on Friday, 21 May 2021 under the Chairmanship of Shaktikanta Das, the RBI Governor. The board in its meeting reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and recent policy measures taken by the RBI to mitigate the adverse impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on the economy.
The board has approved the transfer of Rs 99,122 crore as surplus to the central government for the accounting period of nine months ended 31 March 2021 (July 2020-March 2021), while deciding to maintain the contingency risk buffer at 5.50%.
Meanwhile, a foreign brokerage firm on Thursday, 20 May 2021, stated that the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India was more of a humanitarian crisis rather than an economic one, and is likely to have peaked. It added that it expects the overall hit to sequential growth in April 2021 - June 2021 to be much less severe than last year when there was a complete nationwide lockdown. The brokerage estimated the economy to contract by 3.8% in June quarter as compared with March quarter. The lockdowns were more nuanced this time and consumers and businesses have adapted, it said, adding that international experience also suggests the same. The brokerage highlighted that the improving global growth will act as a tailwind and it expects the current lockdowns to last six more weeks.
Gainers & Losers:
Indusind Bank (up 3.48%), Bharti Airtel (up 2.15%), BPCL (up 2.01%), Tata Motors (up 1.95%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.81%) were major gainers in the Nifty 50 pack.
PowerGrid Corporation of India (down 1.09%), Grasim Industries (down 0.49%), Eicher Motors (down 0.26%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.23%) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) (down 0.10%) were major losers in Nifty 50 index.
Nifty Results Today:
Hindalco Industries (up 0.57%), JSW Steel (up 0.81%), State Bank of India (SBI) (up 1.05%) and Shree Cement (up 1.48%) will announce their quarterly earnings today.
Earning Impact:
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) spurted 4.28% after the company's net profit surged 207.5% to Rs 3,017.96 crore in Q4 FY21 as against Rs 981.38 crore in Q4 FY20. Net sales during the quarter increased 13.2% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 74,544.62 crore. The combined GRM for HPCL Refineries for the quarter Jan - Mar 2021 is $8.11 per barrel as compared to $(-)1.23 per barrel in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The refinery throughput for the quarter Jan - Mar 2021 was 4.39 million metric tonnes.
During 2020-21, HPCL refineries at Mumbai and Visakh achieved combined refining of 16.42 million metric tonnes (MMT) with capacity utilization of 104%. The corporation achieved sales volume of 36.59 MMT in FY21 as compared to previous year's sales of 39.64 MMT.
"Effective crude sourcing plans, optimizing day to day crude run rate, efficient logistics management and regulating product procurements from other sources enabled HPCL to achieve more than 100% capacity utilization in refineries in spite of overall demand contraction," the corporation said in a statement. For the year 2020-21, HPCL has proposed a final dividend of Rs 22.75 per share.
Stock in Spotlight:
Morepen Laboratories rose 3.13% after the company said its shareholders have approved an incoming investment of Rs 433 crore from Switzerland's Corinth Investment Holdings AG and the company's promoters. The company's shareholders approved the allotment of 5.85 crore equity shares at Rs 41.60 each, aggregating to Rs 243.36 crore. Shareholders also approved 5 crore fully convertible warrants to promoter group company Liquid Holdings at Rs 38 per warrant, aggregating up to Rs 190 crore for cash, to be converted into equity within 18 months.
Global Markets:
Most European shares advanced while Asian stocks were trading mixed on Friday, 21 May 2021, following an overnight bounce on Wall Street. Investors focus is turning to key economic data from the euro zone and U.K.
U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, rebounding from three straight days of losses as technology shares staged a comeback, while the latest jobless claims totaling a fresh pandemic-era low also boosted sentiment.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped further below 500,000 last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000 for the week ended May 15, the Labor Department said. That was the lowest since mid-March 2020 and held claims below 500,000 for two straight weeks.
U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell turned up the heat on cryptocurrencies on Thursday, saying they pose risks to financial stability, and indicating that greater regulation of the increasingly popular electronic currency may be warranted. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, flagged its concerns that wealthy individuals could use the largely unregulated sector to avoid tax and said it wanted big crypto asset transfers reported to authorities.
Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas has reportedly agreed to a cease-fire on Thursday, halting a bruising 11-day war that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, brought life in much of Israel to a standstill and left more than 200 people dead.
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