Domestic indices trade firm in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks, after two-day of losses, made optimistic start on Friday mirroring favourable global cues. Markets are trading in high spirit with gains of over a percent each in early deals on the back of buying in all the sector indices led by Realty, Bankex and Telecom. Dip in daily Covid cases also supported market sentiment. The new infection count remained below the 300,000-mark for the fifth consecutive day in India as it witnessed a spike of 259,269 fresh coronavirus cases. Adding more optimism, the Ministry of External Affairs said India is engaged with American entities for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines from the US and their possible manufacturing in the country subsequently. Besides, in view of hardships faced by taxpayers because of the pandemic, the government has extended several income tax (I-T) compliance timelines, including 2020-21 income tax returns (ITR), for individuals by two months to September 30.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, with bargain hunting providing a boost, especially among oversold technology stocks. Traders are optimistic about a global economic recovery from the pandemic after a drop in US initial jobless claims, offsetting inflation worries and fears about monetary easing. However, traders remain cautious amid continuing concerns about the accelerating daily coronavirus infection rates in the region caused by highly contagious variants of the virus.

Back home, sugar industry stocks were in focus as the Centre slashed subsidy on sugar exports from Rs 6,000 per tonne to Rs 4,000 per tonne with immediate effect in view of firm global prices. In scrip specific development, Zee Entertainment Enterprises surged after it reported consolidated profit at Rs 275.8 crore for the March 2021 quarter, compared with a loss of Rs 766.7 crore in the same quarter last year. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation jumped as its March quarter net profit surged multifold to Rs 3,018 crore on the back of inventory gains and rise in refining margins.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50076.01, up by 511.15 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 49832.72 and 50076.86. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.90%, while Small cap index was up by 0.87%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.45%, Bankex up by 1.79%, Telecom up by 1.08%, Oil & Gas up by 0.98%, PSU up by 0.95%, while there was no loser.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.22%, ICICI Bank up by 2.00%, HDFC Bank up by 1.87%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.77% and Axis Bank up by 1.74%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.83% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.15% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that it stands ready to strengthen its dialogue and scale-up its technical collaboration with India, observing that the human tragedy is a stark reminder that Covid -19 pandemic continues to be a grave threat globally. IMF’s Director of the communications department -- Gerry Rice said ‘Our great sympathies and support to the people of India, and what is happening there relative to the pandemic, to those who have lost their lives and are suffering as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.’ Rice added ‘We are following the events in India very closely. And we hope that the number of new infections will continue to decline.’

The IMF welcomes the announcements by several countries to provide immediate support to India, he said reiterating that a multilateral response is critical to overcome the pandemic in India and globally. ‘On the economic impact, India is an important economy globally. We will be revisiting our growth forecast for India and for the global economy in July,’ he said, adding that the IMF will update it in its July World Economic Outlook Update.

He said ‘for India, on the economy, it will be critical to continue with a coordinated policy response to fight the pandemic including through accelerating the vaccination campaign, providing fiscal resources to the health sector, and social support to the most vulnerable. We see these as the immediate policy priorities.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15056.60, up by 150.55 points or 1.01% after trading in a range of 14985.85 and 15056.95. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.32%, ICICI Bank up by 1.98%, HDFC Bank up by 1.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.86% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.81%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.96%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 0.21% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.02% were the few losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 81.79 points or 0.29% to 28,368.50, KOSPI fell 11.17 points or 0.35% to 3,151.11, Jakarta Composite lost 20.08 points or 0.35% to 5,777.52 and Shanghai Composite was down by 15.90 points or 0.45% to 3,491.04. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 gained 157.04 points or 0.56% to 28,255.29, Straits Times rose 3.19 points or 0.10% to 3,113.00 and Taiwan Weighted jumped 187.10 points or 1.17% to 16,229.46.