Domestic Share Market closed higher; Sensex gained 447 pts & Nifty ends at 13,258.55

Key equity indices scaled fresh all-time highs after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised upwards the economic growth projections for the fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21) and assured ample liquidity for the stressed sectors. Sensex and Nifty 50 crossed 45,000 and 13,250 marks.

S&P BSE Sensex added 446.90 points, or 1 per cent, to settle at 45,079.55. Nifty 50 rose 124.65 points, or 0.95 per cent, to close at the lifetime high of 13,258.55. Nifty Bank closed 603.65 points, or 2.05 per cent, up at 30,052.40. Volatility index, India VIX, dropped over 5 per cent to 18 levels.

On a weekly basis, Nifty gained 2.2 per cent while Sensex added 2 per cent.

The broader market at BSE the BSE Mid-Cap index surged 0.44 per cent while the BSE Small-Cap index appreciated 0.42 per cent.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1458 shares rose and 1218 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 39 shares advanced and 11 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 is Adani Ports (up 4.86 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 4.49 per cent), Hindalco (up 4.34 per cent), UltraTech Cement (up 4.01 per cent) and Sun Pharma (up 3.68 per cent). The major losers were Reliance (down 0.83 per cent), HDFC Life (down 0.73 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (down 0.68 per cent), BPCL (down 0.51 per cent) and HCL Tech (down 0.49 per cent).

RBI Policy Announcement

RBI kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent while maintaining its `accommodative' stance after the conclusion of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting today. The RBI governor said inflation is likely to remain elevated with some relief in the winter months. "CPI inflation is seen at 6.8 per cent for Q3FY21 and projected CPI inflation is at 5.8 per cent for Q4FY21. For H1FY22, projected CPI inflation is seen at 5.2-4.6 per cent with risks broadly balanced," he added.

The governor said the recovery in rural demand is expected to strengthen further, while urban demand is also gaining momentum. Consumers remain optimistic about the outlook and business sentiment of manufacturing firms is gradually improving. Fiscal stimulus is increasingly moving beyond being supportive of consumption and liquidity to supporting growth-generating investment. On the other hand, private investment is still slack and capacity utilisation has not fully recovered. While exports are on an uneven recovery, prospects have brightened with the progress on the vaccines.

IMF on Thursday reportedly said the Indian economy, severely affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, is gradually recovering. The economy recovered faster than expected in the September quarter as a pick-up in manufacturing helped GDP clock a lower contraction of 7.5 per cent and held out hopes for further improvement on better consumer demand.

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 65,132,317 with 1,504,443 deaths. India reported 416,082 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 139,188 deaths while 9,016,289 patients have been discharged.