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Indian equity benchmarks showcased a courageous performance by rallying around two percent in the session and settled above the psychological 15,150 (Nifty) and 50,500 (Sensex) levels. The markets made a firm start of the day, on account of dip in daily Covid cases. 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. 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. Sentiments remained up-beat with report that the International Monetary Fund stands ready to strengthen its dialogue and scale-up its technical collaboration with India, observing that the human tragedy is a stark reminder that the pandemic continues to be a grave threat globally.

Markets further gained traction to end the trading session with fabulous gains, amid report that banks are likely to transfer about 80 large NPA accounts for the resolution to National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), which is expected to be operational by next month. NARCL is the name coined for the bad bank announced in the Budget 2021-22. A bad bank refers to a financial institution that takes over the bad assets of lenders and undertakes resolution. 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 ended mixed on Friday 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 after a drop in US initial jobless claims, offsetting inflation worries and fears about monetary easing. European markets were trading mostly in green, as flash survey data from IHS Markit showed the euro area private sector activity grew the most in more than three years in May as economies continued to open up from virus restrictions. 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. Auto industry’s stocks remained in watch as ratings agency ICRA in its latest report stated that India’s second Covid-19 wave has derailed the recovery momentum of the domestic auto industry, which was poised for a comeback in the current fiscal after witnessing the two consecutive challenging years.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 975.62 points or 1.97% to 50,540.48, while the CNX Nifty was up by 269.25 points or 1.81% to 15,175.30.    

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 50,591.12 and 49,832.72, respectively and there were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.    

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.82%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 3.73%, Telecom up by 1.68%, PSU up by 1.45%, Power up by 1.44% and Utilities up by 1.12%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HDFC Bank up by 4.48%, SBI up by 4.30%, Indusind Bank up by 4.18%, ICICI Bank up by 3.86% and Axis Bank up by 3.51%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.37% and Power Grid down by 0.35% were the few 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 traded in a range of 15,190.00 and 14,985.85 and there were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Bank up by 4.50%, SBI up by 4.33%, Indusind Bank up by 4.15%, ICICI Bank up by 3.86% and Axis Bank up by 3.54%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.44%, Indian Oil down by 0.38%, Dr. Reddys Lab down by 0.38%, Eicher Motors down by 0.33% and Grasim Industries down by 0.25% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC increased 34.73 points or 0.55% to 6,378.31 and Germany’s DAX rose 40.13 points or 0.26% to 15,410.39, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 0.19 points or 0% to 7,019.60.

Asian markets ended mixed on Friday, with bargain hunting following a firm finish for Wall Street overnight on strong US jobs data. Data showed a drop in jobless claims last week with an indication of further progress in the labour market. While, growing inflationary worries and Covid-19 concerns kept the sentiments remain cautious. Chinese markets ended lower under sell-off pressure from financials and consumer staple stocks and offsetting gains in the commodities sector. Japanese shares settled up despite persisting concerns over slow economic recovery from the corona-virus pandemic due to Japan’s stagnated vaccine rollouts.

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