Airline stocks gain after govt announces resumption of domestic flight services 25 May; IndiGo surges over 7%

Mumbai: The final hour of trading on bourses erased some intraday gains on Thursday but benchmark indices managed to close in the green led by gains in auto and FMCG stocks. The BSE S&P Sensex closed 114 points or 0.37 percent higher at 30,933 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 40 points or 0.44 percent at 9,106. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty auto up by 2.6 percent, FMCG by 2.2 percent and metal by 1.8 percent. [caption id=“attachment_8012311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. News18[/caption] Aviation stocks gained after the government announced that domestic airline operations will resume on 25 May, two months after all flights were halted amid the COVID-19 crisis and countrywide lockdown. InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, closed 7.28 percent higher at Rs 978.25 per share while SpiceJet surged 4.88 percent to Rs 42.95 per unit. FMCG major ITC moved up by 7 percent while Hero MotoCorp accelerated by 4 percent, Maruti by 3 percent, Bajaj Auto by 2.7 percent and Eicher Motors by 2.6 percent. However, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance dropped by 3.6 percent and 2.9 percent on poor Q4 results. NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Adani Ports too traded with a negative bias. Meanwhile, Asian shares dithered despite global equities and crude prices rallying overnight on hopes of a rapid economic recovery and government support. Equities got a boost this week as governments around the world gradually loosened their coronavirus lockdown restrictions, raising investor hopes that the economic impact of the pandemic will be short-lived. South Korea’s Kospi was up by 0.44 percent but Japan’s Nikkei fell by 0.21 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped by 0.49 percent.