Indian share markets witnessed most of the buying interest during closing hours today and ended on a strong note.
Benchmark indices extended gains in late afternoon deals after the Indian government fast-tracked emergency approvals for foreign-produced COVID-19 vaccines.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 661 points (up 1.4%).
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed up by 194 points (up 1.4%).
M&M and Bajaj Finserv were among the top gainers today.
TCS and Dr Reddy's Lab, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.
The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,553, up by 210 points, at the time of writing.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.5% and 1.2%, respectively.
On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the automobile sector, banking sector, and metal sector.
IT stocks and healthcare stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.
Shares of Sobha and Laurus Labs hit their respective 52-week highs today.
Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today. The Hang Seng ended up by 0.3% while the Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.5%. The Nikkei stood higher by 0.7%.
US stock futures are trading marginally higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 40 points (up 0.1%).
The rupee is trading at 75.35 against the US$.
Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.3% today at Rs 46,525 per 10 grams.
Bitcoin hit a record of US$ 62,741 today, extending its 2021 rally to new heights a day ahead of Coinbase's initial public offering (IPO).
Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that rising COVID-19 infections and fears of another lockdown spooked investors on Monday which dragged the benchmark indices lower by 3.5%.
In news from the finance sector, shares of Muthoot Finance gained 4% intraday today after the company's board of directors approved payment of an interim dividend of Rs 20 per equity share.
Shareholders, who are entitled to close of business hours on April 23, 2021, would be entitled to receive the interim dividend, the company said. The interim dividend will be paid to the shareholders within 30 days from the date of declaration.
Muthoot Finance's share price ended the day up by 0.9%.
In news from the IT sector, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was among the top buzzing stocks today.
India's largest IT services player on Monday reported a strong set of numbers for its fourth quarter of FY21.
TCS reported a 6.3% sequential growth in the March quarter, consolidated profit at Rs 92.5 billion, driven by better-than-expected growth in revenue and operating income.
Revenue was up by 5.9% year-on-year and 4.2% quarter-on-quarter at Rs 43.7 billion compared to the previous quarterbacked by the ramp-up of large deals, cross-currency tailwind, and recovery in demand.
The revenue in dollar terms grew by 5% sequentially to US$ 5,989 million in the quarter ended March 2021, against 5.1% growth seen in the previous quarter.
The company's earnings have benefitted from the surge in demand for digital services such as migration to the cloud over the past 12 months triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Note that TCS' order book at US$ 9.2 billion in Q4FY21 was the highest ever total contract value (TCV) in a quarter, taking the total yearly order book at US$ 31.6 billion, a 17.1% growth compared to the previous financial year.
The company also declared a final dividend of Rs 15 per share.
TCS share price ended the day down by 4.2%.
Speaking of stocks, here is an illustration of the four phases that stock goes through during its life cycle. The cycle repeats itself after the stock goes through all these four stages.
This cycle defines everything in markets. If you can master this cycle, then nothing can stop you from making huge profits.
Moving on to the news from the oil and gas sector...
India has emerged as the top buyer of US crude oil in the first quarter of 2021. In FY21, Indian refiners were the second-largest buyer of US crude oil, snapping up 2.9 lakh barrels per day which were 26% more than FY20.
India is the world's third-largest oil consumer and imports 85% of oil needs from other countries.
Currently, India is looking at alternate sources of crude amidst a spat with Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer.
As Saudi Arabia staved off India's request to boost production to cool prices, Indian refiners replaced some of the Saudi volumes with US cargoes
This reflected in a marked change in crude sourcing with India becoming the biggest buyer of US crude, importing an average of 4.2 lakh barrels per day of US crude between January and March. This was more than the volumes bought by South Korea at 3.1 lakh barrels per day and China with 3 lakh barrels per day, industry data showed.
As part of its crude sourcing diversification strategy, Indian refiners have recently bought crude from new producers such as Guyana.
Note that Iraq is India's top supplier of crude. In the past, the middle east has been the favorite crude sourcing destination for Indian refiners because of close proximity and lower freight rates.
We will keep you updated on the latest developments in this space. Stay tuned.
Speaking of crude oil, note that there has been a big geopolitical development recently that you as an astute trader should know about.
The Indian government has decided to reduce the country's dependence on crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia.
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