
Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and TCS were the top contributors to the gain in Sensex
Highlights
- Markets rebound after Sensex, Nifty suffer worst weekly loss in a decade
- Sensex soars 786 points to 39,083 in early trade, before trimming gains
- Buying across sectors pushes markets higher; RIL, ICICI Bank top movers
Here are 10 things to know about the markets today:
At 10:02 am, the Sensex traded 542.67 points - or 1.42 per cent - higher at 38,839.96 while the Nifty was up 158.60 points - or 1.42 per cent - at 11,360.35. All sectors on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) moved higher at the time, with the Nifty Bank, Nifty IT and Nifty Metal indices up 1.15 per cent, 2.09 per cent and 2.45 per cent respectively.
Top percentage gainers in the Nifty basket of 50 shares were ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Zee Entertainment, Vedanta , ONGC and Indian Oil, trading between 2.74 per cent and 3.80 per cent higher. On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the only losers in the index, down 1.02 per cent.
ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and Infosys were the top contributors to the gain in Sensex, together pushing it higher by more than 250 points.
Market breadth favoured gains with an advance-decline ratio of almost 3:1, as 1,309 stocks rose on the BSE while 488 fell. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,225 stocks advanced while 437 declined.
Automobile stocks were in focus as more companies reported their monthly sales figures, a day after Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra said their domestic sales dropped 3.56 per cent and 42.10 per cent in February. The Nifty Auto index - comprising shares in manufacturers of cars, motorcycles, heavy vehicles, auto ancillaries and tyres - soared as much as 2.08 per cent in morning deals.
Meanwhile, equities in other Asian markets steadied from early losses as investors placed their hopes on a coordinated global monetary policy response to weather the damaging economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chinese shares opened higher with the blue-chip index up 1.5 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4 per cent, turning around from a loss of about 0.3 per cent earlier in the day. Japan's Nikkei, which opened 1.3 per cent lower at a six month trough, was last up 0.4 per cent.
Official data on Friday showed India's GDP or gross domestic product expanded 4.7 per cent in October-December, in line with economists' estimates. Though the figures for the previous two quarters (July-September and April-June) were revised upwards to 5.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent respectively, the data still meant the economy grew at its slowest pace since January-March 2013. The government said the economy has bottomed out.
Meanwhile, SBI Cards and Payment Services' IPO or initial public offer will open later in the day. The credit card arm of the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has fixed a price band of Rs 750-755 per equity share for bidding under the IPO, through which it aims to raise around Rs 10,000 crore.
Last week, the Sensex and Nifty shed 6.8 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively - their worst decline since the 2008-09 financial crisis, tracking global peers which took their wipeout to $5 trillion in value terms. (Also Read: After Sensex Suffers 7% Weekly Loss, Analysts Say Anxiety Over Virus Remains)