Sensex rises 150 points amid firm global cues; Nifty tops 9,250

NEW DELHIl: Firm global cues helped domestic equity indices kick off Thursday’s session on a positive note, however, telltale signs of disastrous impact of lockdown on Indian businesses capped gains.

Startups have warned that a flood of pink slips are coming while deal making plunged 31 per cent in the March quarter. Meanwhile, the World Bank expects remittances to South Asia will drop 22 per cent this year, underscoring the economic distress stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic.

At 9.30 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 156 points at 31,535 while NSE benchmark Nifty added 69 points to 9,249. Broader market indices were faring better than their headline peers as Nifty Smallcap jumped 1.38 per cent while Nifty Midcap dropped 1.48 per cent. Nifty 500 was up 0.56 per cent.

Among bluechip stocks, ONGC, which has been on a losing streak amid plunging crude oil prices, jumped over 3 per cent to Rs 69 while Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel and ICICI Bank gained more than a per cent each.

Jewellery maker Titan was the biggest loser in the 30-share pack Sensex, down 2.65 per cent to Rs 927, while M&M, Maruti Suzuki and Nestle India dropped over a per cent.

Britannia Industries, which is set to come out with its quarterly numbers later in the day, gained 4.66 per cent to Rs 3,089 on BSE. It is likely to post single-digit profit growth in Q4 as the quarter was partially marred by the rise in raw material prices, outbreak of coronavirus pandemic amid consumption slowdown.

All sectors on NSE traded with gains with Nifty Media jumping over 4 per cent. This comes on top of nealy 7 per cent jump on Wednesday. Nifty Realty, Nifty Bank, Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma are among others that registered gains.

Globally, Asian stock markets rose as the combination of a rebound in crude prices from historic lows and the promise of more US government aid to cushion the coronavirus-ravaged economy helped calm nervous markets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan bounced from two-week lows to be up 0.5 per cent at 460.43 points.

Australian S&P/ASX added 0.4 per cent, Chinese shares opened firm with the blue-chip index up 0.3 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.8 per cent.

The gains followed a strong overnight lead from Wall Street with the Dow up 2 per cent, S&P 500 adding 2.3 per cent and Nasdaq rising 2.8 per cent.