Market Wrap, April 22: Here's all that happened in the markets today

After kicking off the session on a gap-down note amid a record spike of over 3 lakh Covid-19 cases in the country, Indian markets bounced back in afternoon deals, as investors resorted to low-level buying encouraged by firm global cues and drop in US bond yields.

The BSE barometer Sensex ended the session at 48,081, up 375 points, mainly led by strength in the banking and financial counters. The index, meanwhile, gyrated 939 points in intra-day trade today as volatility remained high on weekly f&o expiry. Its NSE counterpart Nifty closed the session 110 points higher at 14,406.

On technical front, Nifty is expected to range between 14200 and 14500 levels, and it will be crucial for the short-term market scenario to break the zone, said Ashis Biswas, Head of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research.

In the 30-pack index, ICICI Bank was the top performer in today's session with a gain of 3.3%, followed by HDFC, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank and SBI that rose over 2% each. Titan, HUL, Ultratech Cement and Nestle were among the losers and shed between 2-3%.

Sectorally, barring FMCG, pharma and IT, all indices ended on a firm footing with Bank Nifty in the lead with a gain of 2.15%. Financials followed suit and clocked 2.13% rise. Meanwhile, metals and media indices added nearly 2% each.

Broader markets too joined the rally in the benchmark with Nifty Midcap index rising 0.46% and the Nifty Smallcap index 0.85%.

On the stock specific front, shares of Aurobindo Pharma were in focus after media reports stated that Pfizer is likely to sign vaccine agreement with the firm. The stock ended the day up 0.16% at Rs 989 on the BSE after jumping nearly 3% in intra-day. That apart, Pfizer said it is in discussions with India and committed to make its Covid-19 vaccine available for deployment in the country at a not-for-profit price.

Den Networks slipped 6.75% while those of TV18 Broadcast rallied 19.6% after the merger of Den Networks, TV18 Broadcast, and Hathway Cable & Datacom into Network18 Media was called off by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL).

ICICI Securities rallied 5.62% after the company’s consolidated profit after tax more-than-doubled on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 329 crore on the back of a 54 per cent YoY growth in revenue at Rs 739 crore.

Panacea Biotech stock was locked in 10 per cent upper circuit for the second straight day, at Rs 323.70, hitting an over 12-year high on the BSE on Thursday. Thus far in the month of April, the market price of Panacea Biotech has zoomed 83 per cent after the company and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine in India per year.

Shares of HCL Technologies ended lower by 0.03% ahead of its March quarter results on Friday. Brokerages expect the IT company to post a 26-31% QoQ decline in PAT on account of one-time bonus impact.

In an update on the Covid front, the Supreme Court told the Centre that it wants a “national plan” on issues including supply of oxygen and essential drugs for treatment of patients infected with the virus. Taking suo motu cognisance of the prevailing grim situation across the country, a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it would also consider the matter pertaining to the method and manner of COVID-19 vaccination in the country.

That apart, the Centre fixed April 24 as registration date for vaccination for all candidates above 18 years of age. However, India will have to wait till May end for its third vaccine candidate as it will start receiving Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine by that time, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories told Reuters, a later than expected schedule that could slow the country's immunisation drive.

Lastly, on global market front, stocks edged higehr 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% in early European deals while STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.5%. Japan's Nikkei 225 settled 2.4% higher.

US stock futures, meanwhile, pointed to a flat open on Wall Street, albeit within touching distance of a record high.