Stock Market Live Updates: Sensex opens over 300 points higher, Nifty holds 15,000; banks, metals lead

Stock Market Live Updates: Indian indices rose on Friday after a 2-day losing streak led by broad-based buying across key sectors as gains in global peers also lifted sentiment. Asian peers were trading higher after Wall Street gained in overnight trade led by tech shares. Back home, banking and metal stocks lead the gains. Stocks including Zee, HPCL, Bosch and Havells will be in focus after their March quarter earnings.

Recovery rally takes bitcoin back above $40k

A rebound in bitcoin held strong on Thursday, even as the US Treasury Department called for new rules that would require large cryptocurrency transfers to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve flagged the risks cryptocurrencies posed to financial stability. The comments from US officials come one day after a brutal sell-off on concerns over tighter regulation in China and unease over the extent of leveraged positions among investors sank the world’s biggest cryptocurrency to its lowest level since late January. Bitcoin was recently up more than 4 percent at around $40,000, after earlier jumping more than 10 percent. Thursday’s gains brought the currency’s price to approximately where it traded in early February. Smaller rival ether was up around 14 percent after Wednesday’s 28 percent tumble.

State Bank of India (SBI) is set to announce its fourth-quarter results for the fiscal year 2020-21 later in the day. Expected to be a strong quarter for the public lender, the SBI is likely to post the best net interest income (NII) growth in the last five quarters and the best profit after tax (PAT) growth in the last four quarters. Additionally, SBI’s operating profit growth will be strong as well given the fact that NII is expected to be the best in the last five quarters. The loan growth for SBI is expected to be around 5-6 percent, given the Q3 loan growth was 6.7 percent. SBI’s net interest margin (NIM), however, is expected to remain stable or improve sequentially aided by the cost of funds

Opening Bell: Sensex opens over 300 points higher, Nifty holds 15,000; banks, metals lead

Indian indices rose on Friday after a 2-day losing streak led by broad-based buying across key sectors as gains in global peers also lifted sentiment. Asian peers were trading higher after Wall Street gained in overnight trade led by tech shares. Back home, banking and metal stocks lead the gains. At 9:18 am, the Sensex was up 338 points at 49,903 while the Nifty rose 115 points to 15,021. Broader markets were also higher in early deals with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.6 perent and 0.8 percent, respectively. On the Nifty50 index, BPCL, IOC, SBI, JSW Steel and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers while Powergrid was the only stock in the red.

Second wave of COVID-19 puts breaks on automotive sector recovery

The second wave of COVID-19 has once again pushed the Indian automotive sector into a state of turmoil. Due to the various region-wise lockdowns, automobile dealers temporarily shut their showrooms, as a part of the non-essential services category which in turn has been affecting sales. In a recent note, CARE Rating said the automobile sales in April 2021 are reflective of the various disruptions caused due to the pandemic. The factory dispatches of two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, and light commercial vehicles declined by 10-58 percent sequentially. Going ahead, it sees further sluggishness as the closure of dealer showrooms shall lower the retail sales of this industry. Additionally, the ongoing rally in metal prices could lead to another round of price hikes of vehicles, which could either be of second or third price hikes in the past few months of 2021, it noted.

Petrol price hiked

Petrol prices have been increased by Rs 2.64/litre & diesel prices by Rs 3.07/litre in last 18 days.

Petrol price in Delhi is now at Rs 93.04 & at Rs 99.32 in Mumbai; diesel in Delhi costs Rs 83.80 while in Mumbai it is Rs 91.

India cuts 2020/21 sugar export subsidy by 31.4%

India on Thursday cut sugar export subsidies by 31.4 percent for the season that ends on Sept. 30, according to a government order issued by the Ministry Of Consumer Affairs, Food And Public Distribution. Late last year, India, the world’s biggest sugar producer behind Brazil, approved subsidies of 5,833 rupees ($79.87) per tonne to encourage cash-strapped mills to export 6 million tonnes of sugar in the current 2020/21 season. The government subsidies for sugar exports stand at 4,000 rupees a tonne, the Ministry Of Consumer Affairs, Food And Public Distribution said on Thursday.

Elon Musk’s latest tweet almost doubles Dogecoin price in hours

A week after asking his Twitter followers whether his electronic vehicle company Tesla should start accepting Dogecoin, Elon Musk once again tweeted on Thursday, May 20, supporting the cryptocurrency, leading to a rise in price of the meme cryptocurrency. Following a tweet by Musk, the price of Dogecoin spiked to $0.40 from $0.29 earlier in the day after a frenzied sell-off on May 19. Musk tweeted, “How much is that Doge in the window?” According to Yahoo News, Musk’s tweet comes just hours after the cryptocurrency market plummeted into the red, reportedly following a renewed crackdown in China whose central bank issued a statement asking its financial institutions not to accept or deal with cryptocurrencies.

Oil nudges up, set for biggest weekly loss since March on possible Iran supplies

Oil prices edged up on Friday, taking a breather after three days of losses as investors braced for the return of Iranian crude supplies after officials said Iran and world powers made progress on talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. Brent crude futures for July rose 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, to USD 65.21 a barrel by 0032 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate for July was at USD 62.16 a barrel, up 22 cents, or 0.4 percent. Both contracts are down nearly 5 percent for the week and on track to post their biggest weekly loss since March after Iran’s president said the United States was ready to lift sanctions on his country’s oil, banking and shipping sectors. Iran and world powers have been in talks since April on reviving the deal and the European Union official leading the discussions said on Wednesday he was confident a deal would be reached.

First up, here is quick catchup of what happened in the markets on Thursday

The Indian equity benchmark indices ended Thursday’s volatile session lower dragged by selling in metals and financial stocks. The Sensex slipped 337.78 points, or 0.68 percent to 49,564.86, while the Nifty closed 124.10 points, or 0.83 percent lower at 14,906.05. Smallcap and midcap turned lower to end in the red. Among sectors, Nifty Metal fell the most over 3 percent followed by private banks, financial services, FMCG and IT indices. Gains were seen in PSU Bank and realty sectors. On the Nifty50 index, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Coal India, Britannia and ONGC led the losses, while Cipla, M&M, BPCL, IndusInd Bank and Titan Company were the top index gainers.

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