Markets end week with gain of 7%: Sensex soars 997 points to end at 33,717, Nifty surges to 9,860; Tata Motors, ONGC major gainers

The rally continued on the domestic bourses for the fourth consecutive session and ended the week with the gain of 7 percent. The market made a gap-up opening in today session tracking positive trade in global indices amid optimism of vaccine discovery for COVID-19 in the near-term.

Investors also seemed to participate in market ahead of the long weekend as some positive development on coronavirus front could take the market further higher. While, some volatility was seen in the last half an hour of trade, the markets regained strength again and ended over percent supported by strong gains in financials.

#MarketAtClose | Market ends at fresh 7-week highs, #Sensex & #Nifty gain over 3% each. Nifty gains 307 points to 9,860 & Sensex 997 points to 33,718. Nifty Bank adds 444 points to close at 21,534 & Midcap 275 pts to 13,502 pic.twitter.com/HD35vN3QC7

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) April 30, 2020

Sectorally, all indices ended in green except pharma and media. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose over 1 percent each. However metal, IT and auto indices ended with a gain of more than 5 percent. Tata Motors, UPL and ONGC lead the gains while Cipla, HUL and Sun Pharma traded as top laggards.

Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd rose almost 9 percent in early trade after it said it had become the first company in India to receive approval from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct clinical trials of Favipiravir antiviral tablets for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals pared some gains and were trading up 4.8 percent at mid-session.

The govt announcement on economic lockdown, PMI data, auto sales numbers and coronavirus update would be the key events for market when it opens on Monday.

The markets are closed tomorrow for May Day.

The benchmark indices ended higher for the fourth consecutive day with Nifty ending April series above 9,850 level.

At close, the Sensex was up 997.46 points or 3.05 percent at 33717.62, and the Nifty was up 306.55 points or 3.21 percent at 9859.90. About 1316 shares have advanced, 1084 shares declined, and 165 shares are unchanged.

Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director Choice Broking, said, “Finally, the index settled its weekly closing as well as Monthly Expiry at 9,860-level witha gain of 300 points which is a good sign for an upside movement. Moreover, all the large cap constituents have given a good spurt during the trading session based on which the Index managed to give a jovial closing near to its 9900 level. Due to monthly expiry, we have seen a highly volatile trading session during the starting of the 1st and 2nd trading session. At present levels, the index has strong resistance at 1,0125 while downside good support comes at 9,620-level,” he said.

Equity indices ended the shortened week on a high, ending with gains for the fourth straight day, said Deepak Jasani, Head Of Research, HDFC Securities. “The NSE Nifty 50 index ended 3.2 percent higher at 9,859. The index was up 7.7 percent this week. The index has posted its best monthly gain since April 2009, registering gains of over 14 percent. Buying was seen among huge volumes on weekly F&O expiry day with Old economy stocks (including auto, oil and gas, metals) advancing well accompanied by IT stocks. Technically, with the Nifty moving up further, the short term trend remains up. Further upsides are likely once the immediate resistance of 9889 is taken out. Crucial supports to watch for resumption of weakness are at 9,734-level,” Jasani said.

Most major global markets have rallied in the current week as several countries have started to talk about lifting the lockdown, said Sanjeev Zarbade, VP PCG Research, Kotak Securities to PTI. “Reports of encouraging results about Gilead’s drug in treating COVID-19 as well as starting of human trials on a vaccine also fuelled the rally,” he said.

Top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci said that Gilead Science’s remdesivir “has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery”.

Rupee settles 57 paise higher at 75.09

The Indian rupee surged 57 paise to close at 75.09 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, amid higher domestic equity markets and a weak American currency in the overseas market.

Forex traders said a positive start of domestic stocks supported the local unit. Moreover, investor risk appetite is improving as India could relax restrictions in many areas from 4 May.

This is the fourth consecutive day of gain for the rupee, during which it has appreciated by 137 paise.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.17. During the session it touched an intra-day high of 74.94 and a low of 75.20.

The domestic unit finally settled at 75.09, registering a rise of 57 paise over its previous close.

--With inputs from agencies