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Late buying helps markets to end higher

Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade near intraday highs on Thursday. Key gauges started the day slightly in green but soon entered into red terrain as Maharashtra announced lockdown-like stricter restrictions amid a continued spike in COVID cases. Selling in IT, Auto and TECK stocks dented the sentiments. Rising coronavirus cases weighted down on the markets. Breaking all records, India registered its biggest-ever single day spike with 199,569 fresh cases. With this, India's Covid tally has shot up to 14,070,890 cases. Markets extended losses as Moody’s said that the re-imposition of virus management measures following a surge in Covid infections will dent economic activity and could hurt market and consumer sentiment, and it warned of a threat to recovery. However, it said targeted containment measures, versus last year’s complete lockdown, and rapid vaccination will soften the hit on the economy. Sentiments also remain dampened on report that wholesale price-based inflation shot up to over 8-year high of 7.39 per cent in March on rising crude oil and metal prices. Also, the low base of March last year, when the data was computed with a low response rate due to the nationwide lockdown, contributed to a spike in inflation in March 2021.

However, markets started recovering as traders opted to buy beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Hefty buying around last leg of trade mainly helped markets to end near intraday high points as traders turned optimistic after the Ministry of Finance in its latest report has showed that fund raising in FY 2020-21 was better than that in FY 2019-20 for both Public Issues and Rights Issues, despite the uncertainty prevailing in FY 2020-21 owing to COVID-19 pandemic. As per the report, during FY 2020-21, Rs. 46,029.71 crore and Rs. 64,058.61 crore were raised through Public Issues and Rights Issue respectively, as against Rs. 21,382.35 crore and Rs. 55,669.79 crore raised last year.

Positive opening in European counters too supported sentiments with European markets trading higher, as a rally in commodity prices lifted miners, while some positive earnings reports offset worries about the pace of COVID-19 vaccination in the continent. Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday, after Singapore central bank retained its monetary policy stance as the policymakers viewed it appropriate amid weak outlook for core inflation and continuing economic recovery. The Monetary Authority of Singapore decided to maintain a zero percent per annum rate of appreciation of the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate.

Back home, real estate sector stocks remained in focus with CARE Ratings’ report that the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country and fears of second wave might hamper the recovery in the real estate sector witnessed in the last six months. Shares of sugar companies remained on buyers’ radar on expectation of improved earnings growth in the March quarter (Q4FY21). The improvement is expected to come on the back of the subsidy announced in December 2020 and a strong momentum in exports.

Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 259.62 points or 0.53% to 48,803.68, while the CNX Nifty was up by 76.65 points or 0.53% to 14581.45.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 48,887.85 and 48,010.55, respectively and there 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index slipped 0.10%, while Small cap index was down by 0.03%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.48%, Bankex up by 1.07%, Power up by 0.93%, Energy up by 0.91% and Oil & Gas was up by 0.85%, while Auto down by 1.20%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services down by 0.40%, Realty down by 0.39% and FMCG down by 0.18% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 3.67%, ONGC up by 2.89%, ICICI Bank up by 2.69%, HDFC Bank up by 2.13% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 1.29%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 2.65%, Indusind Bank down by 2.54%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.44%, Nestle down by 1.69% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance in its latest report has showed that fund raising in FY 2020-21 was better than that in FY 2019-20 for both Public Issues and Rights Issues, despite the uncertainty prevailing in FY 2020-21 owing to COVID-19 pandemic.

As per the report, during FY 2020-21, Rs. 46,029.71 crore and Rs. 64,058.61 crore were raised through Public Issues and Rights Issue respectively, as against Rs. 21,382.35 crore and Rs. 55,669.79 crore raised last year. This is an increase of 115% and 15% respectively in FY 2020-21 as compared to last year.

The report further noted that around 2003 issues of Corporate Bonds for an amount of Rs. 7,82,427.39 crore happened in FY 2020-21, surpassing the amount raised (Rs 6,89,686.19 crore) through 1,821 issues for the fiscal year 2019-20. Thus, while the number of issues increased by 10% in FY 2020-21, the amount raised increased by 13.5% as compared to the previous financial year.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 14,353.20 and 14,597.55 and there were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 3.96%, Wipro up by 3.52%, Cipla up by 3.25%, ONGC up by 2.84% and ICICI Banak up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 3.10%, Eicher Motors down by 3.00%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.54%, Infosys down by 2.42% and Indusind Bank down by 2.10% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 32.36 points or 0.47% to 6,971.94, France’s CAC increased 12.33 points or 0.2% to 6,220.91 and Germany’s DAX was up by 49.57 points or 0.33% to 15,258.72.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday despite fears of a fresh US-China tussle as well as renewed concerns over the surge in coronavirus cases in the region offset stellar earnings from US banks against the backdrop of an improving economy. Chinese and Hong Kong markets fell after a Chinese diplomat indirectly warned the US over strong linkages and interference over Hong Kong issues. Also, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said that the island would work with the United States to deter 'adventurous manoeuvres and provocations' amid threats from Chinese military activities. Meanwhile, Japanese market ended on a flat note after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda warned the economic recovery was likely to be modest due to uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic. Japan on Wednesday reported more than 4,000 new cases as the highly contagious variants drive a fourth wave of infections.

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