Post Session: Quick Review

Bulls held a tight grip over the Dalal Street on Monday, with both Sensex and Nifty ending near their intraday high points. Markets made an optimistic start of the day, taking support with the government data showing that India's exports in April jumped nearly three-fold to $30.63 billion from $10.36 billion in the same month last year. Imports too rose to $45.72 billion last month as against $17.12 billion in April 2020. Traders also took note of report that the average of daily cases has fallen for seven days in a row with India reporting 281,860 new cases in the last 24 hours. This is the first time since April 21 that India has recorded new cases below the 300,000 mark.

Firm trade continued in the markets for the whole trading session, as domestic sentiments remained positive, after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had a 'fruitful discussion' in a virtual meeting with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai to enhance COVID-19 vaccine production. Besides, the GST Council will meet on May 28 and is likely to discuss tax rates on COVID-related drugs, oxygen equipment and vaccines. The meeting among other things is also likely to discuss the compensation mechanism for states' GST revenue shortfall for the ongoing fiscal which began on April 1.

In the second half of the trading session, key indices extended gains to end on a strong note. Sentiments got a boost with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) stating that the southwest monsoon is likely to arrive over Kerala on May 31, a day earlier than its normal onset date. The normal onset date of the monsoon over Kerala is June 1.  Traders remained 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.

The street 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. Market participants also overlooked report that the wholesale price-based inflation shot up to an all-time high of 10.49 per cent in April, on rising prices of crude oil and manufactured items. Also, a low base of April last year contributed to the spike in inflation in April 2021.

On the global front, 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. Asian markets ended mixed on Monday, even after Industrial production in China was up 9.8 percent on year in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday - in line with expectations following the 14.1 percent jump in March. The bureau also said that fixed asset investment spiked 19.9 percent on year, beating forecasts for 19.0 percent and down from 25.6 percent in the previous month. Retail sales advanced an annual 17.7 percent, missing forecasts for 24.9 percent and down sharply from 34.2 percent a month earlier.

The BSE Sensex ended at 49580.73, up by 848.18 points or 1.74% after trading in a range of 48923.13 and 49628.42. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.63%, while Small cap index was up by 1.61%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.98%, PSU up by 2.14%, Metal up by 1.93%, Auto up by 1.90% and Power up by 1.86%, while Telecom down by 1.36% and Healthcare down by 0.01% were the only losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 7.27%, SBI up by 6.35%, ICICI Bank up by 4.41%, HDFC Bank up by 3.81% and Axis Bank up by 3.53%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.02%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.96%, Nestle down by 0.97%, Sun Pharma down by 0.60% and Power Grid down by 0.26% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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 ended at 14923.15, up by 245.35 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 14725.35 and 14938.00. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 7.36%, SBI up by 6.28%, ICICI Bank up by 4.40%, HDFC Bank up by 3.85% and UPL up by 3.69%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 2.53%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.03%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.92%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.51% and Nestle down by 1.08% were the top losers. (Provisional)

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.

Asian markets ended mixed on Monday as investors cautiously kept an eye on the Covid-19 surge across in Asian region and outweighed strength in Wall Street overnight. Investors also eyed the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's latest meeting, which will be published on Wednesday, for further clues to officials' views on the recovery. Japanese shares ended lower as worries over the slow pace of the domestic vaccination drive along with expanded and extended state of emergency in more areas. Meanwhile, Taiwan and Singapore are also tightening new restrictions against the virus. Chinese shares ended higher, despite data showed that factory output slowed and retail sales missed expectations, indicating more pressure on the recovery in consumption.