The domestic stock market witnessed a sharp rally on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced a slew of measures to support the economy in the wake of Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. The central bank slashed reverse repo rate by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent. It also announced special refinance facility of Rs 15,000 crore to SIDBI; Rs 25,000 crore to NABARD, and Rs 10,000 cr to HFCs to support liquidity.
Reacting to it, financials stocks made solid gains, thus aiding the benchmark indices to settle over 3 per cent higher. The S&P BSE Sensex surged 986 points or 3.22 per cent to end at 31,588.72, with Axis Bank (up nearly 13.5 per cent) being the top gainer. ICICI Bank (up 10 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 9 per cent), and Maruti (up 7 per cent) were next on the list.
On the NSE, the Nifty gained 274 points or 3.05 per cent to end at 9,266.75. Volatility index, India VIX, continued to cool-off. It slipped 7.71 per cent to 42.54 levels.
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After surging 500 points in the intra-day trade, the S&P BSE Sensex witnessed a sharp fall at the fag-end of the session, mainly due to profit-booking to end at 38,024, up 269 points or 0.71 per cent. Financial stocks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the index’s gains while Reliance Industries (RIL), ITC and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) emerged as the biggest drags.
The NSE’s benchmark index Nifty50 closed above 11,400 level at 11,427, up 84 points or 0.74 per cent. The index hit a high of 11,487 levels during the day.
Both Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their crucial levels of 38,000 and 11,400 levels, respectively in the intra-day trade after a gap of six months.
On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 3.68 per cent and Nifty added 3.54 per cent.
Market breadth remained in favour of declines as out 2,860 companies traded on BSE, 1,476 declined and 1,209 advanced while 175 remained unchanged. A total of 59 securities hit their 52-week highs while 111 scrips hit their one-year lows.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 83 points, or 0.55 per cent higher at 15,172, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 14,837, up 51 points or 0.34 per cent.
Banking barometer Nifty Bank, too hit a fresh record high of 29,520.70 during the day. It ended at 29,381.45, up over 1.50 per cent with 10 out of 12 constituents ending in the green.
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Benchmark indices declined for a fourth straight session on Friday, amid caution over uncertainty over the formation of government in Karnataka, developments in US-China trade negotiations and firm crude prices.
In a major political development, the Supreme Court held a hearing in the Karnataka government formation matter, directing that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and the state’s new chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa, must conduct the floor test on Saturday at 4 pm.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 34,848, down 301 points while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,605, down 78 points
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank index fell as much as 0.6%, extending its drop into a third session. ICICI Bank declined 2.9%, while HDFC Bank slipped 0.8%.
The Nifty PSU Bank Index also shed 1.6%, in what could be its fourth consecutive session of fall, on continued concerns about disappointing quarterly results due to a jump in bad-loan provisions.
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Benchmark indices rebounded to ended marginally higher after a day of subdued trading as caution ahead of the launch of a goods and services tax (GST) kept investors on edge. The indices ended the month of June in negative, first monthly loss this year, even after they rose a bit in the late afternoon deals.
The revised tax structure will kick in from midnight, marking India’s biggest tax reform since independence, unifying its $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into a common market.
The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 30,921, up 64 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,521, up 17 points.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Midcap and the S&P BSE Smallcap bucked the trend to gain 0.6% each.
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The original interview with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala appeared on The Economic Times and is available here.
In an exclusive interview with ET Now, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Partner, Rare Enterprises, says markets could correct any time it is going to correct more time wise rather than price wise. Edited excerpts
ET Now: I want to start with something which I picked up on my WhatsApp couple of days ago and it says that there is a strong market rumour that a big bull, which is you, has informed his close circle of friends and his associates that markets have topped out and now we may see a significant correction going forward. Have you told your friends anything like this?
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala: My opinion especially in oil, I think $60 for oil is not to be crossed. Onshore oil costs $3 and the fracking capacity is 10%, 15% of oil capacity in America. The whole world has still not even started and in lot of other countries there are not so many as might have been concerns as there are in America. Third thing is with lower prices, OPEC countries are compelled to produce more because of the cost. So I think personally oil prices at $60 is a line which is not going to be crossed, it is a prediction, I reserve the right to be wrong but it is my opinion that to cross it is very, very difficult. Even in other metal areas, I am not very bullish on prices. I think metal prices in general may have topped out.
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