Sensex ends 1,325 points up as indices stage sharpest 1-day recovery
Indian equity markets ended an eventful and highly volatile session with significant gains on Friday after posting a record intra-day recovery as investors put aside worries over coronavirus spread and indulged in some bargain buying. The Nifty50 index was locked in 10 per cent lower circuit early morning, prompting a halt in trading for 45 minutes. However, once the markets re-opened, the headline indices Sensex and Nifty shot up as much as 5,381 points and 1,604 points, respectively, from their early morning lows. Volitality index surged over 24 per cent during the session.
Sensex closed 1,325 pts, or 4.04 per cent, higher at 34,103 and the Nifty50 index a tad above 10,000 level at 10,023.65, up 433 points, or 4.54 per cent. The rebound was led by banks with index heavyweights HDFC ending 10 per cent lower while State Bank of India zoomed 14 per cent. Reliance Industries was also up over 5 per cent. In the end, 27 out of the 30 Sensex constituents ended the session in green.
The broader markets also joined the benchmarks in the upmove. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed 258 points, or 2.09 per cent, higher and the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 146 points, or 1.26 per cent.
On a weekly basis, however, the Sensex posted worst week in over a decade — down 11.35 per cent while the Nifty50 slipped 11.6 per cent for the week.
Tata Steel moved higher by 11 per cent to Rs 320, rebounding 25 per cent from the day’s low on the NSE. The stock had hit multi-year low of Rs 255 in the early morning trade. A combined 29 million shares, representing 2.6 per cent of total equity of the company, have changed hands on the NSE and BSE.
With stringent curbs on foreign tourists’ travel by India up to April 15 due to coronavirus, stocks of major hotel players like Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree Hotels, Chalet Hotels and EIH, among others plunged by 10-20 per cent in Thursday’s trading session and hit their 52-week or all-time low.
As part of the YES Bank restructuring plan, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) would buy around 1.35 billion shares at a price of Rs 10 apiece, according to a report by business channel CNBC-TV18. On Thursday, State Bank of India (SBI) had said it would infuse Rs 7,250 crore into ailing YES Bank to pick up to 49 per cent equity as part of the Reserve Bank of India-mandated bailout plan.
Airline shares tumbled up to 14%; IndiGo hit a 52-week low amidst the COVID19 scare. Shares of IndiGo and SpiceJet were trading with heavy losses. InterGlobe Aviation, the parent of the country’s largest airline IndiGo, saw its shares slump 14.08 per cent to hit 52-week low of Rs 875.
Select pharma shares were in focus as Nifty Pharma rebounded 16% from day’s low. Aurobindo Pharma moved higher by 20 per cent to Rs 449, and witnessed 32 per cent rally in the intra-day deal. The stock slipped 9 per cent to Rs 340, hitting a multi-year low in the early morning trade. The US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) inspected Aurobindo Pharma’s Unit 12 from 10th to 21th Feb’20 and issued form 483 with six observations.
Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries dipped 4 per cent to hit an over 7-year low of Rs 342 on the BSE on Friday despite the drug maker announcing that its board will consider the buyback of company’s shares next week. The stock however outperformed the market, as the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex tanked 9.4 per cent to 29,687 points at 09:22 today. The Nifty50 index hit a 10 per cent lower circuit, bringing trading to a halt for 45 minutes as sell-off worsened in the Indian markets.
Here are some picks from the week gone by.
