Sensex up over 100 points, Nifty rises after markets open in green post-Narendra Modi's 21-day nation-wide lockout announcement

The benchmark indices opened in a positive note on Wednesday. At 10.30 AM, Sensex rose 105.42 points or 0.40 percent to 26,779.45. At 10 AM, Sensex was up 353.09 points or 1.32 percent at 27027.12, and the Nifty up 97.55 points or 1.25% at 7898.60. About 243 shares have advanced, 348 shares declined, and 35 shares are unchanged. Nifty was also up 46.85 points or 0.6 percent to 7,847.90.

#CNBCTV18Market | Market largely higher in opening trade, #Sensex & #Nifty up 2% each, Nifty Bank up more than 100 points pic.twitter.com/cmy4IGa3H4

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 25, 2020

RIL, Cipla, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco, Gail and Wipro are among major gainers, while losers are IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, L&T and Maruti Suzuki in the initial trade. Forex, money market were closed today for Gudi Padwa. The finance minister said on Tuesday the government would soon announce a fiscal package to help the economy face the hit from the virus outbreak. Both the Nifty and the Sensex rose over a percent in early trade before giving up gains. The Nifty was last down 0.96% at 7,731.40 by 0420 GMT, while the Sensex was down 0.91% at 26,418.58 [caption id=“attachment_8115531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. News18[/caption] “We are seeing weakness because there is fear about the impact of the 21 day shutdown on the economy,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities Ltd. “People will wait to buy for a few hours at least.” Late on Tuesday, Modi asked India’s 1.3 billion people to not leave their homes for the next three weeks as health researchers warned the virus could infect more than a million people in the country by mid May. The Sensex was down about 35% so far this year as of Wednesday morning, making it the worst performing Asian market. India so far has reported nearly 500 cases of the virus and 10 deaths. Authorities across several countries are scrambling to keep people home and prevent the virus from spreading. The pandemic threatens to worsen India’s already slow economic growth, languishing at multi-year lows due to a drop in consumption. In Mumbai’s main stock indexes, financial shares were the worst hit, with the NSE Bank index slipping over 2%. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) on Wednesday recovered after opening on a negative note. On Tuesday, the Sensex had closed at 26,674.03 points. The Sensex is trading at 27,183.39 points up by 509.36 points or 1.91 percent. On the other hand, the broader 50-scrip Nifty at National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 7,735.15 points after closing at 7,801.05 points on Tuesday. The Nifty is trading at 7,970.75 points in the morning. Gold prices inched up in volatile trade on Wednesday, as growing hopes for a massive U.S. economic stimulus package to stem the coronavirus outbreak’s economic toll offset liquidation by investors looking for cash and to cover losses in other assets.