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In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks snapped their five-day losing streak and ended over a percent higher each, led by gains in NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Power Grid and Reliance Industries. The benchmarks staged a gap down opening, as rising coronavirus cases dampened the sentiments in the markets. India reported 39,643 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday pushing the overall tally to 11,513,945, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 159,249. Maharashtra has recorded 25,833 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike since last March when the first coronavirus infection was detected. However, the benchmarks staged a strong recovery in afternoon trading, as a pullback in U.S. Treasury yields from 14-month highs brought back some risk appetite into the markets. Traders took some support with Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur’s statement that steps taken by the government to deal with COVID-19 pandemic are resulting in 'V-shaped' economic recovery and the country is likely to witness double digit growth in 2021-22. Additional support also came as a UN report said India's economy, estimated to contract by 6.9 per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, is forecast to record a stronger recovery in 2021 and grow by 5 per cent, it also said the country's current fiscal year budget points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment.

Key indices extended gains in late afternoon deals, after Moody's said India's economy is likely to grow by 12 percent in 2021 following a 7.1 percent contraction last year, as near-term prospects have turned more favourable. Domestic and external demand has been on the mend since the easing of restrictions, which has led to improved manufacturing output in recent months. Moody's expect private consumption and nonresidential investment to materially pick up over the next few quarters and strengthen the domestic demand revival in 2021. Some support also came with Union minister Nitin Gadkari stating that the vehicle scrapping policy will be a ‘win-win’ policy that will help improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. The Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Minister said the policy will also lead to an increase in the country's automobile industry turnover to Rs 10 lakh crore from the current Rs 4.5 lakh crore.

On the global front, Asian markets ended lower on Friday and European markets were trading lower as a spike in treasury yields and plummeting oil prices on the back of demand concerns and a rising dollar weighed on investors' risk appetite. Back home, on the sectoral front, insurance stocks were in limelight as the Rajya Sabha passed The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021, to increase the foreign direct investment limit in the sector from 49% to 74%. Stocks related Diamond & Jewellery sector were in focus with India Ratings’ report stated that despite the steep fall in gold prices and the resultant fall in realisations, retail jewellers are likely to sustain the ongoing demand recovery into the next fiscal with a 30-35 percent spike in demand.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 641.72 points or 1.30% to 49,858.24, while the CNX Nifty was up by 186.15 points or 1.28% to 14,744.00.  

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 50,003.58 and 48,586.93, respectively. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.  

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.35%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 3.25%, Utilities up by 3.04%, Energy up by 2.77%, FMCG up by 2.32% and Basic Materials up by 1.88%, while Realty down by 0.55% and Capital Goods down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.58%, Hindustan Unilever up by 4.44%, Power Grid up by 4.18%, Reliance Industries up by 3.60% and ITC up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.20%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.69%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.40%, Titan Company down by 0.29% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said that India’s economy, estimated to contract by 6.9 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, is forecasted to record a stronger recovery in 2021 and grow by 5 percent. It also said the country's current fiscal year budget points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment.

The UN agency has stated that India’s growth performance in 2020 fell below its mid-2020 expectations. It said actual fiscal stimulus fell short of initial announcements that suggested a large increase of public spending for pandemic relief. It also noted that the relief measures adopted by India were not only much smaller in scale, but also centred on easing supply-side constraints and providing liquidity support rather than aggregate demand support. Moreover, it said restrictions to people’s movement not only severely affected incomes and consumption, they also proved largely unsuccessful in containing the spread of the virus. As a result, the fall in economic activity proved to be larger than we had envisaged in mid-2020.

It further said the budget for the fiscal year from April 2021 to March 2022 also points to a shift towards demand-side stimulus, with an uptick in public investment (particularly in transport infrastructure) for the coming fiscal year. It added that an anticipated recovery in global demand will also help buoy the export sector through 2021. 

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 14,788.25 and 14,350.10. There were 42 stocks advancing against 8 stock declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 4.51%, NTPC up by 4.24%, JSW Steel up by 3.96%, UPL up by 3.94% and Tata Steel up by 3.79%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.25%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.01%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.51%, Coal India down by 0.47% and Titan Company down by 0.35% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 40.58 points or 0.6% to 6,739.10, France’s CAC fell 20.60 points or 0.34% to 6,042.19 and Germany’s DAX was down by 47.52 points or 0.32% to 14,728.00.

Asian markets ended lower on Friday as an overnight hike in long-term US Treasury yields on expectations for faster economic recovery and inflation weighed market sentiments. Moreover, declining oil prices in line with demand worries, rising Covid-19 cases and strengthening US dollar has also added further pressure on market sentiments. Japanese shares closed sharply down after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) said it would only buy Topix-linked exchange traded funds in its monetary easing program, while the Japanese yen dipped briefly after the BoJ widened its target band for the benchmark yield in a decision that was in line with market expectations.

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