Markets buoyant at close: Sensex rallies 743 points, Nifty tops 9,150-mark; Reliance Jio's Rs 43,574 cr deal with Facebook boosts sentiment

The stock markets ended the day’s trading on a positive note. The market regained its lost ground of the previous session to a larger extent with a significant of 2.5 percent gain today. While banking, financial stocks remained on the buying radar, the rally was majorly driven by index heavyweight Reliance which up by 10 percent after Facebook planned to acquire 10 percent stake in Jio at above street estimation valuation. Recovery in Asian and European markets also supported the sentiments. Sectorally, barring realty all indices ended on a positive note. On stock specifics, ZEE, Reliance industries and Asian Paints remained top gainers while ONGC, Vedanta and BPCL were the top losers. Development related to coronavirus, economic lockdown and oil market to remain key crucial factors for investors in the coming sessions. Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director, Choice Broking said, “Finally, the Nifty has settled its closing at 9,187-level with the gain of 205 points after giving a negative opening on back of global clues. “The focus for today was Reliance which helps out the Nifty to climb the upper level, settled with the gain 9.50 percent. Afterwards, we some contributions from other large cap counters also like Infosys, Asian Paints and HDFC Bank. At the present level, the Nifty has strong support at 8,940-level while upside resistance comes at 9,300. While for BankNifty, it seems that the index may trade between the range of 17,500 to 21,500 unless and until we get the either side breakout,” Bagadia said. [caption id=“attachment_6669071” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. Reuters[/caption] The benchmark Sensex rallied 743 points on Wednesday, buoyed by robust gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries as it struck a Rs 43,574-crore deal with Facebook, amid positive cues from the global markets. The 30-share index ended 742.84 points or 2.42 percent higher at 31,379.55. The wider NSE Nifty surged 205.85 points, or 2.29 percent, to finish at 9,187.30. Deepak Jasani, Head Of Research, HDFC Securities said, Reliance Industries was the single biggest contributor to gains, contributing almost half of the upside seen in both benchmarks. “Other old economy stocks in the banking, NBFC, auto,  metals cement space recovered some of the ground lost on Tuesday and FMCG came back in the gainers. “An upward turn in the Dow Futures in late morning led to strengthening of the upward trajectory in Indian markets. Global markets rose on Wednesday (and Asian markets recovered from early losses), offering hopes that stocks could break their two-day slump amid signs that oil prices might be stemming their tremendous losses. ?Technically, with the Nifty bouncing back and respecting the crucial supports of 8821, the bulls seem to have an upper hand for the near term. Further upsides are likely once the immediate resistance of 9210 is taken out. Crucial supports to watch for resumption of weakness are at 9056”, said Jasani. Reliance Industries added more than 350 points to the Sensex by soaring over 10 percent, after Facebook announced an investment of $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) to buy a 10 percent stake in Jio Platforms. This deal makes Facebook the largest minority shareholder in Jio Platforms, which is part of Reliance Industries. Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp and HUL were also among the gainers, spurting up to 5 percent. On the other hand, ONGC, L&T and PowerGrid ended in the red. Positive cues from global markets too lifted investor sentiment here, traders said. Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo closed lower. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading significantly higher in early deals. Brent crude futures slipped 2.16 per cent to USD 18.91 per barrel. Rupee recovers from record low levels The rupee on Wednesday recovered from record low levels to settle higher by 15 paise at 76.68 (provisional) against the US dollar following gains in domestic stocks and some weakness in the greenback against global currencies.

#Rupee ends stronger compared to previous close pic.twitter.com/EWqcr3BrTv

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The rupee opened weak at 76.86 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to an all-time low of 76.88 during the day. Later, the domestic unit recovered the lost ground in line with surging stock markets and finally settled at 76.68, higher by 15 paise over its last close of 76.83 against the US dollar. Indian stocks were trading higher with the benchmark index Sensex rising by 2.5 per cent or 768 points in the closing session. The US dollar also lost some ground against the euro and the pound in European trade, which strengthened the rupee. Brent crude dropped 8 percent to $17.78 per barrel while oil for Indian basket also eased by 0.68 per cent to $20.42 per barrel which supported the local currency. “USD/INR spot breached fresh record high of 76.90, however, it didn’t sustain and fell on dollar selling ahead of the Facebook and Reliance deal. Facebook plans to invest nearly $5.7 billion, the money will hit forex market in tranches either end of this month or sometime next month,” Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services said told PTI.. Gupta, however, noted that global market is still risk averse amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This gloominess regarding the deep economic downturn may weigh on Indian rupee, thus, unless 76.50 and 76 doesn’t break on immediate basis we expect USD/INR spot to trade towards 77 and beyond levels,” Gupta said. The number of cases around the world linked to the new coronavirus has crossed over 25.51 lakh. In India, nearly 20,000 coronavirus cases have been reported so far. “If coronavirus cases continue to increase on the global and local front then we can expect spot to breach 77.50 and then 78 level,” Gupta said. --With inputs from agencies