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Post Session: Quick Review
Apr-16-2021

The last trading day of the week ended slightly higher, with both Sensex and Nifty ending in green terrain. After a cautious start of the day, key indices remained higher for the most part of the trading session, aided with the government data showing that the country's exports jumped by 60.29 per cent to $34.45 billion in March even as the outbound shipments contracted by 7.26 per cent during the full 2020-21 fiscal to $290.63 billion. Imports too grew by 53.74 per cent to $48.38 billion in March, but dipped by 18 per cent to $389.18 billion during April-March 2020-21.

Markets held gains during the day. Traders got relief, as with a view to streamlining regulations and reducing compliance burden of regulated entities, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up the second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0). The RRA would be set up for a period of one year from May 1, 2021, unless its tenure is extended by the Reserve Bank. Besides, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) concluded the first security acquisition programme (G-SAP) auction buying of Rs 25,000 crore in government bonds. As part of this, the government is scheduled to buy bonds worth 1 lakh crore from the secondary market in the three months to June 30 (Q1 of the current financial year).

In the last hour of the trading session, indices cut most of their gains but managed to end the trading day in green terrain, after Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that India tackled the first wave of the pandemic with great resilience and came out with strong growth projections, exuding confidence that the MSME sector will battle the second wave with same conviction and lead India to a growth trajectory. Meanwhile, India reported 216,850 coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, the highest single-day spike so far since the pandemic broke out.

On the global front, European markets were trading higher after strong U.S. and China data spurred optimism about a speedy global recovery, while strong results from Germany’s Daimler boosted carmakers. Asian markets ended higher on Friday after China's gross domestic product expanded 18.3 percent on year in the first quarter of 2021. The National Bureau of Statistics said that was shy of estimates for a jump of 19.0 percent but was up sharply from the 6.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. The bureau also said that industrial production was up 14.1 percent on year in March - missing forecasts for a gain of 17.2 percent and slowing from the 35.1 percent growth in February.

The BSE Sensex ended at 48832.03, up by 28.35 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 48694.49 and 49089.55. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.17%, while Small cap index was up by 1.05%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.88%, Utilities up by 1.35%, Consumer Durables up by 1.33%, Power up by 1.28% and Basic Materials up by 1.23%, while Bankex down by 0.51%, Capital Goods down by 0.39%, Realty down by 0.38% and Energy down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 3.07%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.43%, ONGC up by 2.19%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.10% and Sun Pharma up by 2.07%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 1.55%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.09%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.94%, TCS down by 0.80% and SBI down by 0.73% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, with an aim to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry especially in the times of the pandemic, the Ministry of Tourism has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with online travel companies -- Cleartrip and Ease My Trip.

The primary objective of this MoU is to provide extensive visibility to accommodation units which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness & Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform. The MoU also outlines both parties to encourage Units to register on NIDHI and thereby on SAATHI and encourage local tourism Industry with appropriate safeguards for curbing spread of COVID-19.

The move is also to gather more information on accommodation units in order to gain actionable insights & designing evidence based & targeted policy measures and to promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism. It is expected that more such MoUs will be signed in the future order to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry.

The CNX Nifty ended at 14617.85, up by 36.40 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 14559.00 and 14697.70. There were 36 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 8.94%, Hindalco up by 4.65%, Asian Paints up by 2.94%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.69% and Cipla up by 2.61%. On the flip side, JSW Steel down by 1.54%, ICICI Bank down by 1.43%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.13%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.94% and Tata Steel down by 0.89% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 27.40 points or 0.39% to 7,010.90, France’s CAC increased 13.77 points or 0.22% to 6,247.91 and Germany’s DAX was up by 95.12 points or 0.62% to 15,350.45.

Asian markets ended higher on Friday as strong US and Chinese economic data cemented expectations of a solid global economic recovery. The National Bureau of Statistics said that China's gross domestic product expanded 18.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021. That was shy of estimates for a jump of 19.0 percent but was up sharply from the 6.5 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. Japanese markets ended marginally higher as the country considers stricter Covid-19 measures for areas surrounding Tokyo. Investors awaited the outcome of a meeting between Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and US President Joe Biden, set for the weekend.

Asian Indices

Last Trade           

Change in Points

Change in %

Shanghai Composite

3,426.62

27.63

0.81

Hang Seng

28,969.71

176.57

0.61

Jakarta Composite

6,086.26

6.76

0.11

KLSE Composite

1,608.38

0.13

0.01

Nikkei 225

29,683.37

40.68

0.14

Straits Times

3,201.76

16.99

0.53

KOSPI Composite

3,198.62

4.29

0.13

Taiwan Weighted

17,158.81

82.08

0.48

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