Benchmarks continue upward rally in late afternoon session

The Indian equity benchmarks continued their upward rally in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 650 and 190 points, respectively. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index were trading above a percent. SBI, Indusind Bank and ICICI Bank were the prime gainers among heavy-weights. Traders remain energized after RBI data showed that country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $1.444 billion to $589.465 billion in the week ended May 7, 2021. In the previous week ended April 30, 2021, the reserves had risen by $3.913 billion to $588.02 billion. Traders overlooked that Care ratings’ latest survey stated that amid a raging second wave of COVID-19 and subsequent restrictions on business activities imposed by several states, economic recovery is beginning to lose steam and the country's GDP growth is likely to be below nine per cent for the current fiscal.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed as optimism about the global recovery was offset by concerns about a spike in new infections in several countries that have officials battling to avert new lockdowns. European markets were trading lower after staging a sharp recovery late last week, as underwhelming Chinese data and a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some Asian countries outweighed optimism over the reopening of the British economy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49428.30, up by 695.75 points or 1.43% after trading in a range of 48923.13 and 49452.70. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.54%, while Small cap index was up by 1.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.34%, Auto up by 2.09%, Realty up by 1.86%, Basic Materials up by 1.58% and PSU was up by 1.56%, while Telecom down by 1.28% and Healthcare was down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 5.59%, Indusind Bank up by 4.90%, ICICI Bank up by 3.88%, HDFC Bank up by 3.16% and Axis Bank up by 3.11%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.92%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.84%, Sun Pharma down by 0.88%, NTPC down by 0.67% and Power Grid down by 0.61% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, firmer prices of crude petroleum, mineral oils and manufactured products drove India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) to 10.49% (provisional) in April 2021 (over April 2020). Component wise, primary articles index having weight of 22.62%, increased by (3.83%) to 151.8 (Provisional) in April 2021 from 146.2 (Provisional) for the month of March 2021. Prices of Minerals, Crude Petroleum & Natural Gas, Food Articles and Non-food Articles increased in April 2021 as compared to March 2021.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, declined by (1.00%) to 108.6 (Provisional) in April 2021 from 109.7 (Provisional) for the month of March 2021. Prices of Coal and Mineral Oils increased in April 2021 as compared to March 2021, while prices of electricity declined in April 2021 as compared to March 2021.

Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by (1.65%) to 129.4 (Provisional) in April 2021 from 127.3 (Provisional) for the month of March 2021. Meanwhile, for the month of February 2021 the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 128.1 and 4.83% respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14871.40, up by 193.60 points or 1.32% after trading in a range of 14725.35 and 14886.00. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 5.29%, Indusind Bank up by 5.10%, UPL up by 4.14%, ICICI Bank up by 3.85% and HDFC Bank up by 3.18%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.82%, Bharti Airtel down by 2.10%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.94%, SBI Life down by 1.39% and Sun Pharma down by 0.92% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted dropped 473.20 points or 2.99% to 15,353.89, Nikkei 225 slipped 259.64 points or 0.92% to 27,824.83, Jakarta Composite lost 104.49 points or 1.76% to 5,833.86 and KOSPI was down by 18.80 points or 0.6% to 3,134.52. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 27.24 points or 0.78% to 3,517.62, Straits Times advanced 27.49 points or 0.9% to 3,082.51 and Hang Seng was up by 166.52 points or 0.59% to 28,194.09.

European markets were trading lower, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 22.05 points or 0.31% to 7,021.56, France’s CAC decreased 6.69 points or 0.1% to 6,378.45 and Germany’s DAX was down by 6.60 points or 0.04% to 15,410.04.