Market Wrap, April 7: Here's all that happened in the markets today

The domestic equity markets welcomed RBI governor Shaktikanta Das' decision to keep repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent during the first bi-monthly monetary policy of FY22, along with holding the GDP growth rate steady at 10.5 per cent for new financial year. Despite the recent surge in Covid-19 cases, the governor said the central bank and the government are prepared to tackle the second wave of coronavirus.

That apart, the Governor announced ‘Secondary market G-sec acquisition programme', wherein the RBI will commit upfront to a specific amount of open market purchases of government securities thus anchoring the yields and ensuring comfortable liquidity conditions. Guidance on the quantum of G-Sec purchases (Rs 1 trillion in Q1FY22) offered comfort to debt market participants on the backdrop of a huge supply calendar.

Soothed by the dovish stance, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index leaped 700 points and hit the day's high of 49,900. The Nifty50, meanwhile, jumped nearly 200 points and hit 14,880 on the back of an across-the-board buying. Banking and financial stocks outperformed on Wednesday with the Nifty Bank, Private Bank, and PSU Bank indices settling higher in the range of 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

The Nifty Financial Services, IT, Pharma, Metal, and Realty indices, on the other hand, gained up to 1.5 per cent.

Overall, the Sensex index gained 460 points, or 0.9 per cent, to end at 49,662 levels while the Nifty index closed at 14,819 levels, up 135 points.

In the broader markets, smallcap stocks outrun, both, mid and largecap peers. The S&P BSE SmallCap index was last up 1.3 per cent while the BSE MidCap index added 0.8 per cent.

In the intra-day deals, the smallcap index hit a high of 21,304 points, and was 116 points away from its record high level of 21,420, after a strong rally in chemicals, graphite electrode makers and rating agencies' shares.

Shares of HEG and KPIT Technologies, for instance, soared 20 per cent each on the BSE while Graphite India, Vimta Labs, Sandur Manganese & Iron Ore, CARE Ratings, Vinati Organics and Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers rallied between 10 per cent and 17 per cent in the intra-day trade.

That apart, shares of Rossari Biotech rallied 9 per cent to Rs 1,199 on the BSE in intraday trade today which was the stock's highest level since its listing last year. It surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,145.65, hit on February 19. Thus far in the month of April, the specialty chemicals company's stock has soared 16 per cent in the four trading days.

Shares of Barbeque-Nation Hospitality, meanwhile, staged a smart comeback after a weak market debut and were locked in the upper circuit of 20 per cent at Rs 590.40 on the BSE in Wednesday's session. The stock of Barbeque Nation Hospitality, which owns and operates the popular chain of Barbeque Nation Restaurants, had opened at Rs 492, a 1.6 per cent discount against its issue price of Rs 500 per share on the BSE.

In the primary market, the three-day issue of Macrotech Developers was subscribed 26 per cent till 4:30 PM on the first day of the issue.

Global markets

Asian shares pulled back from a three-week high on Wednesday, dragged lower by Chinese stocks. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan was last down 0.1 per cent after Chinese and Hong Kong shares opened in the red. China’s bluechip CSI300 index was down about 1 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.8 per cent.

That said, Japan’s Nikkei was a shade higher while Australian shares rose 0.6 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.3 per cent. New Zealand ended 0.7 per cent higher.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2 per cent while the German DAX and France’s CAC 40 were flat. The UK’s exporter-heavy FTSE 100, however, gained 0.3 per cent.