Market Wrap, March 5: Sensex gains 61 pts; Nifty at 11,269

Worries over economic slowdown owing to Coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on the investor sentiment Thursday as equities once failed to retain early gains and ended flat. 

The S&P BSE Sensex  ended at 38,471, up 61 points or 0.16 per cent. TCS, HUL, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech were the major contributors to the index's gains. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 38,887.80 and 38,386.68, respectively. 

NSE's Nifty 50 ended at 11,269, up 18 points or 0.16 per cent. 

YES Bank had a field day today as the stock ended 26 per cent higher at Rs 36.85 apiece on the BSE after news reports suggested the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to lead a consortium that will buy stake in YES Bank. SBI, on the other hnad, ended over 1 per cent higher at Rs 288.3 apiece. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.3 per cent higher at 14,571 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 0.29 per cent to settle at 13,591 levels.

On the sectoral front, PSU banks and FMCG stocks made decent gains while realty, metal. and media counters suffered losses. Nifty PSU Bank index added 1.39 per cent to 1,892 levels while Nifty FMCG ended at 29,530.50, up 1 per cent.  

Shares of Indian Hotels Company were trading lower for the fifth straight day, sliding 7 per cent to hit a 17-month low of Rs 115, on the BSE on Thursday in the intra-day trade on concerns of soft demand due to outbreak of coronavirus.

Shares of Pidilite Industries hit a record high of Rs 1,645, up 4 per cent, on the BSE on Thursday ahead of its scheduled board meeting today to consider interim dividend for the financial year 2019-2020. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,609 touched on February 14, 2020.

Global Markets

Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook. Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 per cent, in its fourth day of gains.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 per cent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 per cent.

In commodity markets, oil prices rebounded by more than 1 per cent on a smaller-than-expected rise in crude oil inventories in the United States.