5 Reasons Why Sensex Ended 1,128 Points Higher Today
Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a strong note.
Benchmark indices witnessed sharp gains today with Sensex touching an intraday high of 50,172 and Nifty rising above 14,850-levels.
At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 1,128 points (up 2.3%).
Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 337 points (up 2.3%).
UPL and JSW Steel were among the top gainers today.
Hindalco and Axis Bank, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.
The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,939, up by 188 points, at the time of writing.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1% and 1.3%, respectively.
On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the metal sector, IT sector, and healthcare sector.
The rupee is trading at 73.42 against the US$.
Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 1.4% at Rs 44,178 per 10 grams.
Also, speaking of the ongoing volatility in Indian stock markets, have a look at the two charts below, in the order, they have been placed:
Near Term Volatility in Sensex Compensated by Long Term Gains
The year-on-year change in the Sensex was hardly predictable but someone who stayed invested multiplied every lakh nearly 14 times.
Here are Top 5 Factors Why the Stock Market Were Up Today:
US Fed Maintains Dovish Stance: The Federal Reserve is "a long way from raising interest rates at this point", Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday, reinforcing hopes that the central bank is ready to remain dovish as long as coronavirus woes linger.
Mutual Fund Buying Hopes: Market participants are of the belief that in a remaining couple of days of the current fiscal year, mutual fund managers will step up their stock buying to make sure the net asset value (NAVs) of their respective funds end on a higher note and this is fueling optimism in the stock markets.
Positive Global Cues: Major global markets rose today and the positive sentiment spilled to the Indian bourses too.
Asian share markets ended higher today. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.6%, while the Nikkei ended up by 0.16%. The Hang Seng ended higher by 0.8%.
US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 66 points (up 0.2%).
Positive Macro Data in the US: Better than expected US GDP data and a decline in the unemployment claims reported last week have boosted stock market sentiments.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped to a one-year low last week as economic activity rebounds after weather-related disruptions in February.
Gross domestic product increased at a 4.3% annualized rate, the Commerce Department said in its third estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth.
Sectoral Gains: Market participants bought shares across the board with metal, healthcare, and IT - all indices witnessing strong gains today.
We will keep you updated on how these factors develop in the coming days and what effect they have on Indian stock markets. Stay tuned!
Moving on to stock-specific news...
Ircon International was among the top buzzing stocks today.
Shares of Ircon International witnessed buying interest today after the company said its board of directors is scheduled to consider the issue of bonus shares on April 5, 2021.
On March 3, 2021, the promoter of IRCON - which is under the Railways Ministry and into the construction of transportation infrastructure., undertook an offer-for-sale (OFS) issue to offload a 16% stake in the company.
The issue consisted of 22.5 million shares with a floor price of Rs 88 per share. The issue was subscribed 2.06 times.
During Q3FY21, IRCON's revenue from operations increased 29% sequentially to Rs 12.4 billion, while profit after tax stood at Rs 1 bn, up 35%.
Regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the company's operations, the company said construction activities have been started in full swing and as such, there is no shortage of labor or supply chain interruption and the company has surpassed the construction activities in Q3FY21 as compared to last year.
Stay tuned for all the news from this space.
In news from the banking sector...
HDFC Bank's share price was also in focus today.
HDFC Bank's net banking and mobile banking services suffered an outage today with users reporting issues in accessing them.
The bank faced similar technical glitches before as well, reportedly due to an unexpected surge in online payment volumes.
The repeated glitches prompted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to toughen its stance and in December 2020, the apex bank asked HDFC Bank to halt the launch of its new digital banking services as well. The bank submitted a detailed plan to reduce glitches to RBI on January 19.
Note that HDFC Bank is not the only bank to face such outages. State Bank of India's (SBI) YONO app also faced technical glitches last year which were addressed by the bank subsequently.
Owing to the increase in the number of digital transactions, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das recently said that banks must invest more in building their online platforms so that people's confidence in online banking services increases.
Das also said that the central bank will introduce digital payment security control directions for regulated entities to improve the security of online payment channels and enhance user experiences.
How this development pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the news from this space.
Disclosure: Equitymaster Agora Research Private Limited (Research Analyst) bearing Registration No. INH000000537 (hereinafter referred as 'Equitymaster') is an independent equity research ...
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