Bears struck the market; Sensex tanks 984 points & Nifty closes above 14,600

Domestic equity indices snapped their four-day rising streak and ended with deep losses on Friday, April 30, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex slumped 983.58 points or 1.98 per cent to 48,782.36. The Nifty 50 index slipped 263.80 points or 1.77 per cent to 14,631.10. The Nifty Bank index lost 932.70 points or 2.77 per cent to settle at 32,781.80.

The Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services dropped around 3 per cent while Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG indexes lost more than one per cent. The Nifty Pharma index bucked the trend and gained settled 1 per cent higher. On the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap closed with a loss of 0.65 per cent and the S&P BSE SmallCap settled just 0.07 per cent lower.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,363 shares rose and 1,581 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 12 shares advanced and 38 shares fell. The top five gainers on Nifty were ONGC (up 3.99 per cent), Coal India (up 3.87 per cent), Grasim (up 3.73 per cent), Divi's Laboratories (up 3.61 per cent) and IOC (up 2.14 per cent). The top five losers were HDFC (down 4.16 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 4.05 per cent), ICICI Bank (down 3.50 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 3.39 per cent) and Asian Paints (down 3.233 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 15,05,36,843 with 31,65,999 deaths. India reported 31,70,228 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 2,08,330 deaths while 1,53,84,418 patients have been discharged, data showed.

US Economy

US economic growth accelerated in the first quarter as a rush of consumer spending helped bring total output to the cusp of its pre-pandemic level, foreshadowing further impressive gains in coming months. GDP expanded at a 6.4 per cent annualised rate following a softer 4.3 per cent pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Departments preliminary estimate showed on Thursday. Personal consumption, the biggest part of the economy, surged an annualised 10.7 per cent, the second-fastest since the 1960s. The inflation-adjusted value of domestically produced goods and services climbed to an annualised $19.1 trillion, indicating GDP will soon eclipse the pre-pandemic peak of nearly $19.3 trillion.