Domestic equity benchmarks end with strong gains; Sensex rises 9.4 pct & Nifty closes at 14,819
Equity Markets closed with modest gains; Sensex rises 0.79% & Nifty 50 ends above 14,400
Domestic equity benchmarks ended with strong gains on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 460.37 points or 0.94 per cent to close at 49,661.76. The Nifty 50 index added 135.55 points or 0.92 per cent and ended at 14,819.05. The Nifty Bank grew 489.85 points or 1.51 per cent to settle at 32,991.20.
Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1847 shares rose and 1104 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 43 shares advanced and 7 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were JSW Steel (up 5.33 per cent), Wipro (up 2.36 per cent), SBI (up 2.18 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 2.13 per cent) and SBI Life (up 2.11 per cent). The top five losers were Adani Ports (down 2.76 per cent), Tata Consumer Products (down 1.44 per cent), UPL (down 1.26 per cent), Titan (down 0.52 per cent) and NTPC (down 0.52 per cent).
COVID-19 Update
Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 13,24,47,475 with 28,73,334 deaths. India reported 8,43,473 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,66,177 deaths while 1,17,92,135 patients have been discharged, data showed.
RBI's First Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy of FY22
The Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI, announcing its first bi-monthly monetary policy of FY22 today voted to leave the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent. It kept the reverse repo rate at 3.35 per cent. The marginal standing facility rate and bank rate will remain unchanged at 4.25 per cent, adding that the evolving CPI inflation trajectory is likely to be subjected to both upside and downside pressures.
IMF outlook on India's growth rate
The IMF on Tuesday projected an impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2021, stronger than that of China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian economy is expected to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2022. The IMF revised up its forecast for the world economy. On Tuesday, the organization said it expects growth at 6 per cent in 2021, up from a January prediction of 5.5 per cent. And Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said that despite lingering uncertainties around the pandemic, a "way out of this health and economic crisis is increasingly visible.