MARKET WRAP: Sensex takes a breather, gains 1,628 pts; Nifty ends at 8,745

After days of brutal sell-off, the domestic equity market witnessed a sharp rebound on Friday and ended with around 6 per cent gains as positive global cues and coordinated efforts by countries across the globe to fight coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic soothed investors' nerves.
The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 1,628 points or 5.75 per cent to settle at 29,916. Of 30 constituents, 28 advanced and just 2 declined. Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC and TCS contributed the most to the index's gains. ONGC jumped over 18.5 per cent to Rs 72.45 apiece. It ended as the top gainer on the index. Other heavyweights such as RIL, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and TCS gained in the range of 10-12 per cent.
On the downside, HDFC Bank slipped over 1 per cent to Rs 882 after global brokerage house Bernstein downgraded the stock to 'underperform' and sharply slashed the target price to Rs 750 from Rs 1,400 earlier. READ MORE
On the NSE, headline index Nifty gained 482 points or 5.83 per cent to settle at 8,745 levels.
On a weekly basis, both Sensex and Nifty slipped over 12 per cent.
All the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the green. Nifty FMCG advanced the most - up around 9 per cent to 26,073 levels while Nifty IT surged over 8.5 per cent to 12,306 points. Metal stocks, too, witnessed solid buying as the Nifty Metal index ended 7.7 per cent higher at 1,695 levels.
In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped around 5 per cent to 12,642 levels while the Nifty SmallCap index gained over 2 per cent to 3,874 points.
Market breadth was in favour of buyers as out of 2,605 companies traded on the BSE, 1,447 advanced and 1,008 declined while 150 remained unchanged. Volatility index India VIX declined over 7 per cent to 66.92 levels.
Global Markets
Asian shares made a partial comeback from a global rout on Friday but still nursed massive losses for the week, while bonds rallied and oil extended its gains. European stocks, too, opened on a positive note. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 4.41 per cent higher, ending a seven-sessions streak of losses.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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04:36 PM
MARKET COMMENT | Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research at HDFC Securities
Markets bounced back sharply on Friday after four sessions of daily negative closings. Despite Fitch Ratings halving 2020 global growth forecast to 1.3 per cent from 2.5 per cent, the fact that PBOC kept its benchmark rates steady gave some hopes to markets that situation in China is fast returning to normalcy. Asian and European markets traded higher again Friday as the first tentative signs of stabilisation are built upon. Markets tend to move ahead of the real world and bottom out well ahead of the real economy.

Technically, while the Nifty has bounced back, the short term trend remains down. The Nifty could resume its downtrend if the immediate support of 8,502 is broken. Any pullback rallies early next week could find resistances at 8,883-9,128
04:10 PM
Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE
04:10 PM
MARKET AT CLOSE | Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex
03:40 PM
CLOSING BELL
The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 1,628 points or 5.75 per cent to end at 29,916 while Nifty ended at 8,745, up 482 points or 5.83 per cent.
03:29 PM
MARKET UPDATE | Bharti Infratel zooms 23%, Escorts, Jubilant FoodWorks soar 21%
03:22 PM
Piramal Enterprises hits 52-week low of Rs 663, down 15% on the BSE
>> Stock has tanked 59% in one month from the level of Rs 1,599
03:21 PM
MARKET CHECK | Top gainers on the BSE at this hour
03:12 PM
YES Bank extends decline on profit-booking, tumbles 33% in two days
“A 1,000 million equity shares of Rs 2 each issued at a premium of Rs 8 issued to non-promoters on a preferential basis pursuant to YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme, 2020, approved by Ministry of Finance, are listed and permitted to trade on the Exchange with effect from Thursday, March 19, 2020,” BSE said in a notice dated March 18, 2020. READ MORE

03:02 PM
Contribution to Sensex's gain today
02:59 PM
BROKERAGE RADAR | Centrum Wealth on City Union Bank
Rating: BUY | Target Price: Rs 170
COVID-19 causing an economic activity standstill in Mar’20, could see the March and June quarter witness weak credit growth and stretched recoveries causing higher slippages. The next 2-4 weeks might determine the extent of virus proliferation in India and hence the time taken for economic recovery, which we see by H2FY21. Hence for FY21E we lower estimates on loan growth and raise our provisions which could impact FY21/22E PAT by 7.5%/5.3%. With the BFSI space/HDFC Bank correcting by 33% each we revise CUBK’s multiple/TP to 2.0x/Rs170 (vs 3.1x/Rs263 earlier).
Risks: further NIM compression and stress in the SME segment.

MARKET WRAP: Sensex tanks 1,710 pts, ends below 29K; Nifty settles at 8,469

The relentless selling on Dalal Street continued on Wednesday with no signs of abating as stocks across-the-board, especially financial sector, fell like a pack of cards. Threat of economic fallout emananting from pandemic Coronavirus (Covid-19) continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Moreover, statements by global brokerages Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs that the coronavirus has triggered a global recession spooked investors further.
The S&P BSE Sensex sank 1,710 points or 5.6 per cent to end the day at 28,869.51. IndusInd Bank continued to bleed and ended at Rs 460 apiece, down 24 per cent. Other bluechip financial names such as HDFC Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, and Axis Bank plunged up to 11 per cent. Investors lost around Rs 5.39 trillion today. In the past three days, they have lost Rs 15.1 trillion.
Of 30 constituents, 28 declined and only two - ONGC and ITC ended in the green. ONGC witnessed a phenomenal rise in the fag-end of the session and closed 10 per cent higher at Rs 66 apiece.
On the NSE, the benchmark Nifty breached 8,500 level to end at 8,469 points with 44 constituents declining and just 6 advancing. Sectorally, all but Nifty Media ended in the red. Nifty Media ended at 1,158, up 4.50 points or 0.39 per cent. Nifty Private Bank index tumbled 7 per cent to 11,219 while Nifty Bank slid around 6 per cent to 20,854 levels.
In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 5.5 per cent to 12,614 and the Nifty SmallCap index closed the day at 4,020 down over 6 per cent.
Global Markets
US stock futures and several Asian shares fell in choppy trade on Wednesday, as worries about the coronavirus pandemic eclipsed hopes broad policy support would combat the economic fallout of the outbreak. In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3 per cent, led by a 4.9 per cent fall in Australia while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.6 per cent. US stock futures fell 3 per cent in Asia.
European stock index futures fell more than 5 per cent as fears over the relentless global spread of the coronavirus.
In commodities, oil prices fell for a third session to be down about 17 per cent so far this week as the outlook for fuel demand darkened amid travel and social lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus epidemic.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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04:20 PM
MARKET COMMENT | Joseph Thomas, Head of Research - Emkay Wealth Management
"The frontline indexes were down by close to 5.50 per cent, in a market hit by the likely adverse impact of the pandemic, at a time when it was negotiating a critical juncture in the already existing economic sluggishness. Markets will continue to mirror the developments overseas till some comfort on the spread of the pandemic is received. It is too early to say when the feeling that the asset prices are lower than their intrinsic value would start coming in.”
04:04 PM
SECTOR WATCH | Nifty Media rises; financials tumble
04:03 PM
MARKET AT CLOSE | 28 out of 30 constituents of BSE Sensex end in the red
03:41 PM
CLOSING BELL
The S&P BSE Sensex sank 1,710 points or 5.6 per cent to settle at 28,870 levels while NSE's Nifty50 ended at 8,469, down 498 points or 5.56 per cent.

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Sudden surge in Oil India
03:19 PM
MARKET CHECK
03:14 PM
MARKET UPDATE :: Nifty breaches 8,500
03:05 PM
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03:03 PM
Bharti Infratel extends losses, hits record low
03:01 PM
NTPC, Power Grid earnings relatively immune to coronavirus spread
For NTPC the positive should also accrue from the fact that availability of its critical power plants (Sipat and Korba) has recovered after heavy monsoons this year. Plant availability factor (PAF) stood at 100 per cent for Talcher Stage-II and at 50 per cent for Talcher Stage-I in the month of February, suggests Motilal Oswal Financial Services data. NTPC, which had continued seeing concerns on PAF of critical plants as well as under recoveries, however is seeing improved fundamentals. READ MORE