Stock market indices buoyant: Sensex rallies 1,028 points, Nifty up 317 points at close of session; energy, FMCG stocks soar

The benchmark indices closed the day’s trading on a positive note. The market bounced back from Monday’s decline and ended the session in green-up by 3.3 percent as value buying emerged in blue chip shares like RIL, HCL Tech, ONGC, ITC among others amid recovery in global equities. Sensex surged over 1,028 points on the last day of the 2019-20 fiscal on Tuesday, led by gains in energy, financial and FMCG stocks amid recovery in global peers even as the number of COVID-19 cases continued to mount. The 30-share BSE barometer settled 1,028.17 points or 3.62 percent higher at 29,468.49.

#MarketAtClose | Sensex & Nifty regain 90% of Monday’s losses, up over 3.5% each; Sensex surges 1,028 points to 29,468 & Nifty 317 points to 8,598 pic.twitter.com/7bmntHbkNN

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 31, 2020

Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 316.65 points, or 3.82 percent, to close at 8,597.75. ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 7 percent, followed by Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma and SBI.   On the other hand, IndusInd Bank plunged nearly 15 percent. Maruti, Bajaj Finance and Titan were the other laggards.     

#CNBCTV18Market | Here is how the Indian indices performed this month#CoronavirusOutbreak #StayHome #Sensex #Nifty pic.twitter.com/cAc7EOEKdx

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) March 31, 2020

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Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director, Choice Broking told Firstpost the markets had a volatile session ahead of the Weekly Expiry on 1 April. “During the day, we witnessed a good move based on few large counters like IT’s and Banking’s constituents, however the rally didn’t continue the last and we saw some amount of profit booking in dying hours. For the time being, we my see a broad range based trading in Nifty between the ranges of 8,200 to 9,000 taking the indication from its Option OI,” he said. Moreover, technically support comes at 8100 while resistance comes at 9100.00. If the index sustains above 9,100 then we may see a good spurt up to the level of 9,600 level, Bagadia said. Market bounced back from yesterday’s decline and ended the session in green up by 3.3% as value buying emerged in blue chip shares like RIL,HCL tech ONGC ITC among others amid recovery in global equities. A relatively better factory output data from China also helped the sentiments despite spike in coronavirus cases.The first data crunching exercise from goverment revealed that india may have flattened the covid 19 curve with ongoing stricter lockdown boosted sentiment According to traders, domestic investors turned positive amid rebound in global peers as most Asian benchmarks ended higher on recovery in China’s manufacturing during March as authorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allowed factories to reopen. Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended up to 2 percent higher, while Tokyo closed in the red. Stocks in Europe were also trading on a positive note in early deals. [caption id=“attachment_7138411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 3.60 percent to $27.37 per barrel in futures trade. On the currency front, the rupee appreciated marginally to 75.54 against the US dollar in intra-day trade. The number of COVID-19 cases in India surged past 1,200, according to the health ministry. While there are more than 1,100 active cases, nearly 100 people have recovered. Deaths around the world linked to the pandemic have crossed 37,000. Stocks rally after Chinese data boost World stocks looked set to close their worst quarter since 2008 on a brighter note on Tuesday, as strong Chinese factory data held out hope for an economic revival even as much of the rest of the world shut down to fight the coronavirus. Stocks have rallied since the start of last week but remain down more than 20 percent for the quarter. European shares have had an even worst time, suffering their worst three months since 1987. But with trillions wiped off global markets in March and policymakers responding with more than $10 trillion and counting of fiscal and monetary stimulus packages, a semblance of calm has returned this week. Some analysts have been bold enough to call a bottom in stocks and say the lows of early last week are unlikely to be revisited, a Reuters report said.. European stocks rallied at the open. The Euro STOXX gained 1.7 percent, France’s CAC 40 1.15 percent and the German DAX 2.08 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.8 percent. That followed gains in Asia after China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 52.0 in March from a record-low 35.7 in February, topping forecasts of 45.0. Analysts cautioned that underlying activity probably remained below par, since the improvement measured the net balance of companies reporting an expansion or contraction, but markets cheered the news. S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 percent, pointing to a stronger open on Wall Street after a rally on Monday lifted the US index towards a 20 percent gain since the lows of last week. Despite the more positive mood, not everyone is convinced the current rally has legs. “In spite of the significant sell-off of most growth-oriented assets since mid-February, we are concerned there is further downside ahead,” said Salman Baig, an investment manager at Unigestion. “The violent market action should not be understated, but the underlying cause – an accelerating pandemic requiring large parts of the economy to shut down – is still with us.” The pace of coronavirus infections globally was heading towards 800,000. But Deutsche Bank analysts noted that for two consecutive days the global growth in new cases was 10 percent, after being well above that for most of the past two weeks. Health officials are much more cautious. A World Health Organisation official warned on Tuesday that even in the Asia-Pacific region the epidemic was “far from over”. “This is probably the most embarrassing statistic for the West that China could possibly release. Not only did China stop the virus with just 3,309 deaths, they also appear to have done it with just a one-month shutdown of the economy,” Charlie Robertson, the chief economist at Renaissance Capital, said on Twitter. Some analysts dispute China’s figures, however. Oil bounces Elsewhere, oil prices rose off the 18-year lows hit on Monday after the United States and Russia agreed to talks to stabilise energy markets. Oil prices have been hit by a double whammy, with US crude at one point falling below $20 a barrel on Monday, as the virus outbreak cut demand worldwide and Saudi Arabia got into a price war with Russia. Brent crude was up 43 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $23.19 a barrel, after closing on Monday at $22.76, its lowest finish since November 2002. US crude was up $1.21, or 6.0 percent, at $21.30 a barrel, after settling in the earlier session at $20.09, its lowest since February 2002. Dollar up The dollar rose for a second day, although the gains were more controlled than the jumps of earlier this month that put severe stress on funding markets for the U.S. currency. The dollar, measured against a basket of currencies, was up 0.3 percent at 99.493. The euro dropped 0.4 percent to $1.0995. Sterling slipped 0.7 percent to $1.2330. The yen was 0.5 percent lower against the dollar. Analysts say investors rebalancing their portfolios at month-end and quarter-end were probably behind some of the dollar’s moves over the next 24 hours. There was little respite for emerging-market currencies, however. The South African rand was near record lows and Latin American currencies were falling once again. Bonds markets steady Bond market moves were more measured than in recent weeks. Italian government bond yields were steady before an auction of debt, amid hopes the country’s efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus may be starting to work. German benchmark 10-year yields rose 5 basis points to -0.474 percent. US Treasury yields gained 2 to 4 bps, as investors sold safer bonds and bought into equities. --With inputs from agencies