Benchmarks maintain healthy gains in late afternoon sessions

Indian equity markets continued to trade with healthy gains in the late afternoon sessions, with Sensex and Nifty garnering gains of four percent. Among heavy-weights Cipla, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki exhibited a smart performance. Buoyant Mid-caps and Small-caps also elevated over 3% gains on their respective front line stocks. Sentiments remained upbeat, as Finance Ministry has allowed all states to borrow a cumulative Rs 3.20 lakh crore from market between April-December. The move comes amid states' demand for higher funds from the Centre to meet the expenses in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. Market-men also took support with the private report stating that a second stimulus package India is poised to announce in coming days will be worth around Rs 1 lakh crore ($13 billion) and focus on help for small and medium businesses weathering the coronavirus outbreak. On the sectoral front, oil sector were trading in green despite India's fuel consumption in March shrank by 18 percent, the biggest decline in more than a decade, as a nationwide lockdown halted economic activity and travel. Diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, saw demand contract by 24.23 percent to 5.65 million tonnes.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher, as policymakers discuss how and when the global economy can reopen with data showing a slowing spread of the coronavirus. Back home, in scrip specific development, shares of Bharti Airtel gained on making kids content library free to all `Airtel Thanks customers'.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 31089.24, up by 1195.28 points or 4.00% after trading in a range of 30420.22 and 31143.82. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 3.79%, while Small cap index was up by 3.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 8.85%, Consumer Discretionary up by 5.21%, Telecom up by 5.17%, Healthcare up by 5.16% and Bankex was up by 4.79%,while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 11.17%, Maruti Suzuki up by 10.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 9.97%, Hero MotoCorp up by 9.62% and HDFC up by 9.22%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.33% and Tech Mahindra down by 2.71% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in significant adverse economic impacts globally, the United Nations (UN) in its latest report ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towards sustainable economies' has said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is likely to slow down to 4.8 per cent in the current fiscal (FY21).

The report also noted that COVID-19 is having far-reaching economic and social consequences for the region, with strong cross-border spillover effects through trade, tourism and financial linkages. It further said that the country’s economic growth could stand at 5.1 per cent for fiscal year 2021-22, adding that these are very preliminary forecasts based on the data and information available up to March 10.

According to the report, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still evolving rapidly and showing no signs of abating as of March 31, 2020, its negative impacts on economic performance of countries and territories in Asia and the Pacific will likely be very significant. The report also noted that COVID-19, first reported in China and subsequently globally, has significantly increased the downside risks to the Asia and Pacific region’s near-term economic outlook.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9098.75, up by 350.00 points or 4.00% after trading in a range of 8904.55 and 9111.75. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 14.08%, Bajaj Auto up by 11.30%, Maruti Suzuki up by 10.29%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 9.99% and Tata Motors up by 9.47%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.55%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.07% and UPL down by 0.17% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 119.74 points or 2.11% to 5,797.47, France’s CAC increased 81.02 points or 1.82% to 4,523.77 and Germany’s DAX was up by 241.22 points or 2.33% to 10,574.11.