Bourses extend gains in late afternoon session

Indian benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon session, with the Sensex and Nifty gaining above 800 and 200 points, respectively. The broader indices, BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index trading above half a percent. Traders remain energized as a rapid response to support startup-driven solutions for tackling the current challenging, second wave of COVID 2.0 in the country, Indian startups and companies have been invited to apply for developing new technologies and innovative products that can enable country to fight the crisis. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer a surplus of Rs 99,122 crore to the government for the nine-month accounting period ended March 31. The transfer will help the government's finances as the country battles a furious second coronavirus wave that has seen daily infections and deaths rise to a record level.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed despite a rebound on Wall Street overnight after data showed the U.S. economic recovery is underway. European markets were trading mostly in green continuing the strong gains from the previous session as solid economic data boosts optimism over the region’s outlook.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 50,390.84, up by 825.98 points or 1.67% after trading in a range of 49832.72 and 50320.46. 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 0.87%, while Small cap index was up by 0.77%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.36%, Telecom up by 1.85%, Realty up by 1.44%, Power up by 1.15% and Utilities was up by 1.14%, while there were no losers on sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.32%, HDFC Bank up by 3.03%, ICICI Bank up by 2.83%, SBI up by 2.64% and HDFC up by 2.43%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.94% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to support startup-driven solutions for tackling the current challenging, second wave of COVID 2.0 in the country, Indian startups and companies have been invited to apply for developing new technologies and innovative products that can enable the country to fight the crisis.

NIDHI4COVID2.0, a new initiative under which the companies can apply, will fund eligible startups & companies registered in India offering promising solutions in the thrust areas of oxygen innovation, portable solution, relevant medical accessories, diagnostic, informatics, or any other solution that addresses/mitigate various challenges faced by country/society due to the severe impact of COVID-19.

The initiative is a special drive of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI) for supporting indigenous solutions and innovative products to combat the crisis that the country is currently facing due to the pandemic.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15,144.15, up by 238.10 points or 1.60% after trading in a range of 14985.85 and 15118.85. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.35%, HDFC Bank up by 3.16%, ICICI Bank up by 3.00%, HDFC up by 2.61% and SBI up by 2.47%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.87%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.66%, Eicher Motors down by 0.48% and Grasim Industries down by 0.44% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted strengthened 259.70 points or 1.62% to 16,302.06, Nikkei 225 surged 219.58 points or 0.78% to 28,317.83, Hang Seng increased 8.15 points or 0.03% to 28,458.44 and Straits Times was up by 4.09 points or 0.13% to 3,113.90. On the flip side, KOSPI fell 5.86 points or 0.19% to 3,156.42, Shanghai Composite declined 20.38 points or 0.58% to 3,486.56 and Jakarta Composite was down by 24.48 points or 0.42% to 5,773.12.

European markets were trading mostly in green, France’s CAC increased 16.12 points or 0.25% to 6,359.70 and Germany’s DAX was up by 21.28 points or 0.14% to 15,391.54. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 30.62 points or 0.44% to 6,989.17.