Market Wrap, June 18: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Indian markets rallied in the final hour of Thursday's session, boosted by financials, after spending majority of the day in a range-bound manner. The benchmark indices ended over 2 per cent higher after the Supreme Court allowed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) time till third week of July to consider the telecom companies' proposal. The apex court also directed telcos to submit financial documents of the last 10 years. 

The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 700 points or over 2 per cent to settle at 34,208.05 levels while the Nifty50 index reclaimed the psychological level of 10,000 and ended at 10,092, up 210.50 points or over 2 per cent. Volatility index, India VIX, dropped over 5 per cent to 31.58 levels. 

Among individual stocks, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and Power Grid were the top Sensex gainers. Muthoot Finance surged over 16 per cent to Rs 1,162.55 after declaring its March quarter results. Reliance Industries (RIL) hit a fresh high of Rs 1,665 during the day. The stock ended at Rs 1,656, up 2.53 per cent. 

All the sectoral indices on the NSE, barring Nifty Pharma, ended in the green, led by Nifty Bank index, up 3.74 per cent.

In comparison, the broader market underperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE MidCap index gained 1 per cent and and the SmallCap index rallied around 1.5 per cent.

Global markets

Global stocks drifted on Thursday as spiking coronavirus cases in some US states and China crushed hopes of a quick global economic comeback from the pandemic. S&P 500 mini futures clawed back losses during Asian trade to end 0.2 per cent lower. China's blue-chip CSI300 shares were a bright spot, adding 0.7 per cent. 

In Europe, too, shares retreated. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.3 per cent after two straight days of gains, driven by optimism over global stimulus helping economies claw back from the coronavirus-led slide.