Indian share markets continued to trade in the green during closing hours today and ended on a strong note, tracking positive global cues.

Global stock markets were trading on a positive note today, ahead of a busy week for earnings and central bank meetings. The Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are scheduled to meet later in the week, while Bank of Japan has begun the policy meeting today.

Buying interest was also seen as the RBI announced a Special Liquidity Facility (SLF) for mutual funds worth Rs 500 billion.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 416 points (up 1.3%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 128 points (up 1.4%).

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended their day up by 1.4%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the banking sector, finance sector and FMCG sector.

Asian stock markets settled higher today, buoyed by optimism that the spread of coronavirus has peaked out.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up 1.9% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.3%. The Nikkei was up 2.7%.

Gold prices are currently trading down by 0.3% at Rs 46,379.

The rupee is currently trading at 76.15 against the US$.

Speaking of Indian share markets, the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. Indian stock markets have felt the full impact too.

For the BSE Sensex, FY20 was the second worst year post FY08, the year of the global financial crisis.

Good Time to Start Investing Now?

Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.

Is it time to sell stocks now? Will the correction get worse?

History has shown that after years like the one we had just now, the next 3 years are good for the markets. In fact, these corrections are the rare times when you find businesses with solid fundamentals at reasonable valuations.

Industry leaders including Maruti Suzuki's RC Bhargava, TVS Motors' Venu Srinivasan, M&M's Pawan Goenka and other leaders aren't expecting much improvement in sales next month as well, and have warned of a prolonged crisis in the sector because of the impact of Covid-19 on the economy and consumer sentiment.

Last week, the government had allowed factories outside Covid-19 hotspots to start operations, but automakers have yet to restart their plants as they are waiting for the ecosystem of suppliers, dealers and financiers also to open for business.

Several leading automakers said that they are not in a hurry to resume production for the domestic market as there would be supply chain management issues and there was sufficient stock in their channels to serve any pent-up demand once the lockdown ended.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) president Rajan Wadhera has suggested opening of the market in phases. "We must begin by opening dealers in semi urban/rural areas, to start selling motorcycles, three-wheelers and small commercial vehicles to start the cash cycle," he said.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

Moving on to news from the finance space, SBI Cards and Payment Services has seen its retail spends slump nearly 60% during the period of extended lockdown when compared with the first half of March.

In an exchange filing last week, the country's second largest credit card company said the daily average run rate of retail spends for the last 15 days of March was lower by 31% when compared with the first 16 days of March.

With the extension of the lockdown, average daily retail spends are lower by 60% when compared to the first half of March, it added.

Corporate card spends have also declined at similar rates. According to a 21 April report by Bank of America, SBI Card customers had an average monthly spend of Rs 10,815 per card for the first 10 months of FY20, slightly lower than the industry monthly average of Rs 11,031 per card.

Earlier this month, the company had reported outstanding borrowings worth Rs 173.6 billion as on March 31, 2020.

The credit card company, promoted by the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI), said the borrowings at the end of the previous fiscal were provisional and subject to audit.

SBI Cards and Payment Services share price ended the day down by 1%.