Dalal Street makes gains after nations unveil reopening plans
On Dalal Street, the S&P BSE Sensex ended 1.89 per cent or 605 points higher at 32,720 while the NSE Nifty50 rose 1.84 per cent or 172 points to 9,553, as some states in the US and nations in Europe ease anti-virus controls and allow businesses to reopen.
In three straight days, the Sensex gained about 1,400 points and from its March 24 lows of 25,638, the benchmark is now up about 28 per cent.
All sectors closed higher today, with metal rising 4.5 per cent, auto up 2 per cent. PSU banking and financials added 1.8 per cent each, followed by 1.7 per cent gain in media scrips and 1.3 per cent rise in IT and realty sectors. The top gainers on the NSE were HDFC twins, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, GAIL and Adani Ports.
Banking major HDFC ended 7.05 per cent higher and was the biggest boost to the indexes, while HDFC Bank Ltd jumped 4.91 per cent.
Dr Reddy, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Titan, Asian Paints were among the top laggards today.
Consumer goods major Hindustan Unilever slipped 2.54 per cent on reports that GlaxoSmithKline Plc was preparing to start the sale of its $3.7 billion stake in the company, while Axis Bank shrank 3.59 per cent after reporting a surprise loss on provisions related to COVID-19.
The Indian rupee also closed at near one-month high against the US dollar. The currency closed 51 paise higher at 75.67 per dollar, amid buying seen in the domestic equity market.
Global stocks witnessed gains on Wednesday, with optimism over nations moving toward reopening their economies from lockdowns made to restrict the spread of the coronavirus.
New Zealand today allowed construction sites, restaurants and some other businesses to reopen following a decline in new coronavirus cases.
After Italy announced plans on Sunday to allow restaurants and other businesses to reopen gradually, the French and Spanish governments announced similar plans on Tuesday.
In the United States, some governors are rolling back lockdown restrictions and allowing restaurants, hair salons and other businesses to reopen despite warnings by health experts that moving too fast might lead to new outbreaks.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.4 per cent higher at 2,822.44 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3 per cent to 24,643.59. The Kospi in Seoul advanced 0.7 per cent to 1,947.56.
Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.
The ASX-S&P 200 in Sydney gained 1.5 per cent to 5,393.40. Singapore and Jakarta gained 0.4 per cent while New Zealand shed 0.9 per cent.
In early trading, London’s FTSE advanced 0.7 per cent to 6,001.78 and the DAX in Frankfurt added 0.1 per cent to 10,813.19. The CAC 40 in France shed 0.1 per cent to 4,562.55.
Meanwhile, Wall Street appeared set for small gains on the open.
The future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was 0.8 per cent higher, helped by forecast-beating revenues from Alphabet Inc’s Google, and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7 per cent .
Crude prices are also back on the upswing from recent lows, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude trading at $13.53 per barrel, up 9.6 per cent, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading at $21.16, an increase of 3.4 per cent.