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Indian equity market rose for the second consecutive day, buoyed by private bank stocks and the gains among global peers. Key equities had opened choppy but soon stabilised and were on the rise for most part of today's session.
While Sensex climbed 483.53 points, or 1.5%, to 31,863.08, Nifty 50 added 126.60 points, or 1.4%, to end at 9,313.90.
Nifty Bank witnessed bull run in the last hour of trade, with Kotak Mahindra Bank advancing more than 8%, followed by ICICI Bank (4.4%) and HDFC Bank (2.5%).
Most Asian stocks ended today's session in the green, with Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 1.5%, Korea's Kospi index gaining nearly 1% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong closing up 0.3%. SGX Nifty traded 1.3% higher.
The intraday rise of the index started gaining momentum towards the end of today's session, led by gains in heavyweights Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 8.4%), ICICI Bank (up 5.1%) and HDFC Bank (up 3.1%)
Shares of the pharmaceutical company surged 10% to ₹699 on the BSE after its consolidated profit before tax more than doubled to ₹298 crore for the March quarter due to healthy revenue. The drug maker's profit before tax was at ₹139 crore during the same quarter in the previous fiscal.
Key indices extended intraday gains, with the Sensex rising 501.07 points, or 1.6%, to 31,882.92, while the Nifty 50 index increased 138.45 points, or 1.5%, to 9,325.75.
The Indian rupee ended at 76.07 against the US dollar, rising by 60 paise, compared to Wednesday's close of 76.67 per dollar.
The board of the private lender approved the appointment of Satya Narayan Gupta as its chief financial officer (CFO). The date of the appointment and Gupta's tenure were not detailed by the bank. Shares tumbled 5.1% to ₹16.36 on the BSE.
The board of the biscuit maker today declared an interim dividend of ₹35 per share of face value of Re 1 each for the financial year 2020. The dividend will be paid to the shareholders of the company before 23 May, 2020.
European stock markets rose at the start of trading on Thursday, building on the previous session's strong gains, as oil prices recover from historical lows. London climbed 0.1%, Frankfurt traded 0.3% higher, Paris and Milan moved up 1.0%.
Oil surged on Thursday amid signs that producers are cutting production to weather a collapse in demand as the coronavirus outbreak ravages world economies, while the US state of Oklahoma also moved to help oil firms pump less. Brent crude was up 99 cents, or 15%, at $21.36 a barrel by 0506 GMT after rising more than 5% on Wednesday. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 98 cents, or more than 7%, at $14.76 a barrel, having risen around a fifth in the previous session. (Reuters)
Three private banks have sold part of their stakes between 17 March and 31 March in Yes Bank, after mounting an effort to rescue the troubled lender, showed shareholding data available on the BSE. Federal Bank sold the highest number of shares at 5.86 crore, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank at 4.72 crore and IDFC First Bank at 4.02 crore shares. Yes Bank slipped 1.7% to ₹29.10 on the BSE.
Consumer goods giant Unilever Plc on Thursday withdrew its growth and margin outlook for 2020 as the covid-19 pandemic, it said, has wrecked havoc across global economies, shifted consumption patterns, and brought to halt out-of-home consumption of its brands. Shares of its Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Unilever fell 1.7% to ₹2349.45 on the BSE.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced that it will conduct purchase and sale of government securities under open market operations (OMOs) for ₹10,000 crore on 27 April. The RBI will purchase long-dated securities with tenor of 6-10 years aggregating ₹10,000 crore, while it will see short-dated securities maturing June 2020, October 2020 and April 2021. In March, RBI had conducted total OMOs worth ₹40,000 crore.
Remittances by migrant workers may fall a sharp 20% worldwide in 2020 and by 22% in South Asia due to a fall in wages and job cuts faced by them, the World Bank said. The multilateral agency said remittances to South Asia are projected to fall to $109 billion in 2020, against a 6.1% growth last year.
The company said it has resumed operations at its NPK plant located in Goa's Zuarinagar, effective 22 April. Shares of the company rose 0.8% to ₹86 on the BSE.
UK-based Vodafone Group said it has accelerated a payment of $200 million to Indian telecom operator, Vodafone Idea, which was due in September 2020 under the terms of the contingent liability mechanism (CLM) with the latter. The telco scrambles for funds to clear adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues as ordered by the Supreme Court (SC). Vodafone Idea jumped 12.6% to ₹4.46 on the BSE.
Kotak Mahindra Bank on Wednesday announced plans to sell up to 65 million fresh equity shares, which is likely to fetch the bank ₹7,527 crore at the current market price. In an exchange filing, the bank said its board has approved the plan to raise capital through a follow-on public offer or a qualified institutional placement or both. Shares of the bank rose 4.7% to ₹1205.55 on the BSE.
The Indian rupee touched the day's high of 76.11 against the US dollar. The domestic currency had opened at 76.30, compared with Wednesday's close of 76.67 per dollar.
Zee Entertainment managed to hold its gains from Wednesday and continued to rise, becoming the best performer among Nifty 50 stocks. It was followed by Britannia, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ONGC and Hindalco. However, Titan Company, Power Grid Corp, Shree Cement, Nestle India and Grasim Industries led the losses.
The Indian rupee opened at 76.30 against the US dollar, compared with Wednesday's close of 76.67 per dollar.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals may become the first Indian company to develop an anti-retroviral (ARV), a class of drugs that is being touted as a potential treatment for coronavirus, according to a report by The Times of India. Glenmark has developed ARV Favipiravir that has shown positive results to treat the disease. Shares of the firm surged 6.6% to ₹339 on the BSE.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday slashed India's growth forecast for fiscal 2021 to 0.8% from 2% projected three weeks ago holding that the depth of the global recession appears to be more severe. The rating agency said economic collapse is being repeated globally and a notable feature of its latest update is sharp further downward revisions to GDP forecasts for emerging markets.
Benchmark indices failed to hold Wednesday's gains and opened marginally higher in volatile trade. While Sensex rose 36.08 points, or 0.11%, to 31,415.63, the Nifty 50 index increased 12.50 points, or 0.14%, to 9,199.80 in opening deals.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.7%, while Kospi index in Korea gained 0.6% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbed 0.2%. SGX Nifty, which indicates the movement for Indian equities, traded flat at 9,151.00 in early deals.
India Ratings and Research has assigned IND AA rating with a stable outlook to Torrent Pharmaceuticals' non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth ₹1,000 crore. Britannia, Piramal Enterprises, GMR Infrastructure and Zee Entertainment are some other stocks that may be in focus.
Futures contracts of US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery jumped 19% to $13.78 a barrel in New York. WTI had sunk into negative territory on Monday for the first time in history, but that was for the May contract that expired Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 2.0% at 23,469.58 points. The broad-based S&P 500 gained 2.3% to 2,798.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 2.8% to end Wednesday's session at 8,495.38 points.
Key Wall Street indices surged on Wednesday as oil prices recovered and Congress looked on course to approve nearly $500 billion more to help small businesses tide over the coronavirus crisis. US crude and international benchmark Brent prices climbed after a collapse in the past two days, sending the S&P 500 energy index up 3.6%.
All 11 S&P 500 sector indexes traded higher after the US Senate unanimously approved the new relief package, adding to trillions of dollars in stimulus that have helped Wall Street rebound from its March lows. The House of Representatives is expected to clear the bill on Thursday.
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