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Indian equity benchmarks extended winning streak for fourth straight day and ended the Monday’s trade with a gain of over half a percent amid fall in daily Covid-19 cases. Markets started the day with significant gains as traders remain encouraged after the Union Health Ministry said more than 72 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories, while over 46 lakh doses will be received by them within the next three days. Union Health Ministry also stated that India is the fastest country globally to administer 17 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. China took 119 days while the US took 115 days for reaching the same landmark.  The vaccination drive in India was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated and vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. Subsequently, it was opened for different age groups. Market participants continued to buy risky assets amid reports that corporate India is stepping up to shoulder coronavirus-induced challenges by lending a helping hand through various initiatives like testing, vaccination camps, financial aid, medical help and resource access for COVID-19 care.

Market traded in fine fettle throughout the day as investors took some support from Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India is committed to concluding negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement and investment protection pact with European Union (EU) together at an early date. Adding more optimism, data of the commerce ministry showed continuing a positive growth, India's exports grew by 80 per cent to $7.04 billion during the first week of this month. Exports during May 1-7 last year stood at $3.91 billion and $6.48 billion in the same week of May 2019. Sentiments remained upbeat till end of the trade as Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) data showed that country’s foreign exchange reserves swelled by $3.913 billion to reach $588.02 billion in the week ended April 30, 2021. In the previous week ended April 23, the reserves had risen by $1.701 billion to $584.107 billion.

On the global front, European markets were trading mostly in red even as reopening of economies and easy monetary policy lifted sectors that typically benefit from a recovery. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday, after Malaysia's unemployment rate declined marginally in March. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that the jobless rate fell to 4.7 percent in March from 4.8 percent in February. The number of unemployed persons decreased to 753,200 in March from 777,500 in the previous month. The number of employed rose by 0.4 percent monthly to 15.33 million in March from 15.27 million in the prior month.

Back home, with an aim to augment resources to the three tiers of Panchayats for fighting the contagion, the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, has released an amount of Rs 8,923.8 crore to 25 States for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs). The grants are meant for all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions - village, block and district. On the sectoral front pharma stocks remained in focus with a private report stating that the domestic pharmaceuticals market has seen a rebound in April, with sales growing 51.5 per cent over last year, thanks to the low base of April 2020 and a pick-up in demand for Covid-19 drugs.

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 295.94 points or 0.60% to 49,502.41, while the CNX Nifty was up by 119.20 points or 0.80% to 14,942.35.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 49617.47 and 49412.05, respectively and there were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.97%, while Small cap index was up by 0.94%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.53%, PSU up by 2.72%, Capital Goods up by 2.56%, Healthcare up by 2.27% and Power up by 2.13%, while IT down by 0.17% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 3.89%, Dr. Reddys Lab up by 3.01%, Sun Pharma up by 2.74%, NTPC up by 2.52% and Power Grid up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.22%, Infosys down by 0.95%, Reliance Industries down by 0.29%, HCL Tech down by 0.25% and Axis Bank down by 0.24% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings has said India's credit rating will be retained at the current level for the next two years, and the country will see a slightly faster pace of growth in the next couple of years that will support its sovereign rating. S&P, which had in March seen the Indian economy growing by 11 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2022, saw GDP growth rate dropping to 9.8 per cent under the 'moderate' scenario, where infections peak in May, and falling to as low as 8.2 per cent in 'severe' scenario under which caseload would peak only in late June.

Further, S&P Global Ratings Director - Sovereign and Public Finance Ratings - Andrew Wood said in the moderate downside scenario there would not be any major impact on the government's fiscal position. There could be upside pressure on general government fiscal deficit forecast of 11 per cent as revenue generation would be weaker, but debt stock would remain roughly stable just above 90 per cent of GDP.

He noted in the severe scenario, there could be more additional fiscal spending from the government and revenue growth would be weaker. This would mean that debt stock would stabilise only in the next financial year. He mentioned ‘India's rating remains stable on a 'BBB-' rating. We do not expect there to be a change in the rating level over the next 2 years...Of course, there are going to be some near term ramification on India's economy stemming from the severe second wave of COVID-19 and that may peep through into our sovereign credit metrics.’

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 14892.50 and 14966.90 and there were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Coal India up by 7.45%, UPL up by 7.18%, Hindalco up by 6.15%, Indian Oil Corporation up by 4.70% and Tata Motors up by 4.00%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 1.90%, Britannia Industries down by 1.37%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.22%, Infosys down by 0.96% and Hero MotoCorp down by 0.86% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red, France’s CAC decreased 12.01 points or 0.19% to 6,373.50 and Germany’s DAX was down by 22.85 points or 0.15% to 15,376.80. On the flip side, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 12.66 points or 0.18% to 7,142.37.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday as weaker than expected US job growth in April eased concerns over prospects of higher interest rates. Chinese market eked out modest gain, with healthcare firms climbing after European Union leaders cranked up their criticism of the United States call to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents. Japanese market advanced as investors awaited earnings from prominent firms for signs of progress in a pandemic-hit economy. Meanwhile, Seoul stocks hit a record high as a disappointing US jobs report helped allay fears about higher inflation, interest rates and a cutback in stimulus.

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