Extending the gains into the fourth consecutive session, Indian equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended at seven-week high on April 30, supported by robust buying in auto, metal and technology stocks amid positive global cues.
Reports of successful trials of a coronavirus vaccine also influenced the mood. Media reports suggested that Gilead’s drug to treat COVID-19 had shown encouraging results.
On the domestic front, indications of the easing of lockdown and stimulus hopes helped drive the markets.
Let’s look at the final tally on D-Street: the S&P BSE Sensex rose 997 points to 33,717.62 while the Nifty50 closed 307 points higher at 9,859.90.
The market benchmarks posted second-biggest weekly gains in nine years, as the Nifty and the Sensex rose nearly 8 percent each during the week.
The Indian market wound up the April F&O series with healthy gains. The Nifty rose 14 percent while the Sensex logged a gain of nearly 13 percent.
"The Market ended in positive for the fourth day in a row on the back of positive signals from global markets. Successful trials of a COVID-19 vaccine helped the global markets gain some positivity," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
"Indications of easing of lockdown measures and stimulus hopes helped drive the markets. Being F&O expiry day today, short-covering and roll-overs in the market also contributed to the gains. Next week's outlook will be driven by the way forward for resumption of business after lockdown, the announcement of any stimulus package and stock specific-earnings results."
The cumulative market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 129.40 lakh crore on April 30 from Rs 126.21 lakh crore on April 29, making investors richer by nearly Rs 3.2 lakh crore in a single day.
Sectorally, the action was seen in metal, auto, IT and tech while the healthcare and FMCG indices saw some profit-booking.
Broader markets underperformed as the S&P BSE Midcap index was up 1.46 percent while the S&P BSE Smallcap index closed with gains of 1.15 percent.
Top Nifty gainers: Tata Motors, UPL and ONGC.
Top Nifty losers: Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever and Cipla.
Stocks & Sectors
With a gain of 8.27 percent, BSE Metal emerged as the top sectoral gainer, followed by auto, IT and tech, each gaining over 5 percent.
BSE Healthcare and FMCG ended with losses of 0.58 percent and 0.12 percent, respectively. Rest all sectoral indices closed with gains.
A volume spike was seen in stocks like Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Properties, GMR Infra, Shree Cement and Tata Motors.
Long Buildup was seen in stocks like Tata Motors, UPL, Shriram Transport Finance, Vedanta and ONGC.
Short Buildup was seen in stocks like Balkrishna Industries, Torrent Pharmaceuticals and Berger Paints.
As many as 269 stocks, including Future Consumer, Reliance Capital, Inox Wind, Sadbhav Engineering and Shankara Building Products, hit their upper circuits on BSE.
Stocks in news
Reliance Industries: The share price rose almost 3 percent ahead of its March quarter earnings. The company's January-March earnings are expected to get strong support from Jio business, though refining business could see some decline due to a fall in oil prices and nationwide lockdown, according to brokerages.
Motherson Sumi Systems: The stock jumped nearly 8 percent after Morgan Stanley maintained its overweight call, with a target at Rs 103 per share. It expects a sharp earnings recovery in FY22 as volumes normalise, according to a report by CNBC-TV18.
Morepen Laboratories: The share rose 3 percent after the company received certification from BSI (British Standards Institution, UK) for its medical devices manufacturing facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.
Just Dial: The stock gained over 4 percent after the board approved a proposal for a buyback of up to 31,42,857 equity shares.
Tata Steel: The share climbed nearly 6 percent after the company said it raised Rs 1,000 crore through allotment of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.
Tata Motors: The stock surged 19 percent after a Mint report said that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has restored three-fourth of its budgeted production in China.
M&M Financial Services: The share price jumped almost 6 percent after the company divested a 49 percent stake in its subsidiary Mahindra Asset Management Company to Manulife Investment Management (Singapore) Pte for Rs 265 crore.
Technical View
The Nifty signed off the April series with strong bullish signs and witnessed bullish candle formation on daily, weekly and monthly charts, as closing was higher than opening levels.
Given the momentum and positive news developments, experts expect the rally to continue in the coming days and 10,000 would be a crucial level to watch out for.
"As long as this index sustains above Thursday's gap zone of 9,731 –9,599 levels the trajectory of this market shall remain higher with initial targets of 9,970 levels and beyond that, a bigger target of 10,159 – 10,334 can't be ruled out," Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist – Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in, told Moneycontrol.
Moreover, the index appears to be moving by taking support on the ascending trendline drawn by connecting the recent lows of 7,511 – 8,055 levels; hence any close below the said trendline, whose support for next session is placed around 9,545 levels shall be considered as the first sign of weakness, he said.
Mohammad advised traders to make use of the dip, if any, between 9,750 – 9,700 to create fresh long positions with a stop below 9,600 on a closing basis.
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