Markets rallies for 3rd day; Sensex rose 145 points & Nifty closed at 16,563.05

Benchmark equity indices settled with decent gains at record high levels on Monday, August 16, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex which hit a new high of 55,680.75 in intraday trade closed 145.29 points or 0.26 per cent higher at 55,582.58. Similarly, the Nifty 50 index jumped to a fresh peak of 16,589.40 in the intraday trade closed 33.95 points or 0.21 per cent higher at 16,563.05. The Nifty Bank index closed 74.85 points or 0.21 per cent lower at 36,094.50.

However, the broader markets underperformed the markets at the BSE, where the S&P BSE Midcap lost 0.18 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap fell 0.57 per cent.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,168 shares rose and 2,124 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index on NSE, 21 shares advanced and 29 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel (up 3.67 per cent), Bajaj Finance (up 3.35 per cent), M&M (up 2.65 per cent), Britannia (up 2.47 per cent) and IOC (up 2.29 per cent). The top five losers were Maruti (2.60 per cent), Shree Cement (down 2.26 per cent), Eicher Motors (down 2.23 per cent), Power Grid (down 2 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.98 per cent).

Highlights of the companies that were listed on the stock exchanges today:

Windlas Biotech, Devyani International, Exxaro Tiles and Krsnaa Diagnostics were listed on the stocks markets today.

The shares of Devyani International debuted at NSE at Rs 140.90 against the issue price of Rs 90. It closed 12.99% lower than the listing price at Rs 122.60.

The shares of Exxaro Tiles debuted on the NSE at Rs 126 today against the issue price of Rs 120. It closed 5% higher than the listing price at 132.30.

The shares of Windlas Biotech debuted on the NSE at Rs 437 today against the issue price of Rs 460. It closed 7.09 per cent down from the listing price at 406.

The shares of Krsnaa Diagnostics debuted on the NSE at Rs 1,005.55 today against the issue price of Rs 954. It closed 2.74 per cent lower than the listing price at 978.

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 20,72,11,656 with 43,62,268 deaths. India reported 3,81,947 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,31,642 deaths while 3,14,11,924 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Economy

India's annual rate of inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) eased to 11.16 per cent year-on-year in July 2021, from 12.07 per cent in the previous month and steeply above (-0.25 per cent) in July 2020. The high rate of inflation in July 2021 is primarily due to the low base effect and rise in prices of crude petroleum & natural gas; mineral oils; manufactured products like basic metals; food products; textiles; chemicals and chemical products etc. compared with the corresponding month of the previous year.

Japan's GDP rose 0.3 per cent in the second quarter compared to the previous three months, when it contracted 0.9 per cent, according to official preliminary estimates released Monday.