Markets snapped four-day losing run; Sensex rose 166 points & Nifty closes at 15,722

Domestic equity barometers ended with decent gains on Friday. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 166.07 points or 0.32 per cent to settle at 52,484.67. The Nifty 50 index added 42.20 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 15,722.20. The Nifty Bank index gained 125.90 points or 0.36 per cent to end at 34,809.90.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap rose 0.05 per cent while S&P BSE SmallCap gained 1.01 per cent.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1909 shares rose and 1307 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 on NSE, 28 shares advanced, 21 shares declined and one share remains unchanged. The top five gainers on Nifty were Divi's Laboratories (up 2.04 per cent), Reliance (up 1.60 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 1.49 per cent), Coal India (up 1.27 per cent) and Tata Consumers (up 1.20 per cent). The top five losers were Tata Steel (down 2.20 per cent), JSW Steel (down 1.24 per cent), Britannia (down 1.22 per cent), Power Grid (down 1.21 per cent) and Grasim (down 0.79 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide was at 18,26,45,084 with 39,55,756 deaths. India reported 5,09,637 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 4,00,312 deaths while 2,95,48,302 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Indian Economy

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India has recorded the highest ever export in the first quarter of April to June this year despite the severity of the second wave of COVID-19. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mr Goyal said, India's economy is growing, and the exports are also growing.

He said, the highest ever Merchandise export of 95 Billion dollars has been achieved in the first quarter of this financial year between April to June. He said, it has surpassed the earlier peak of export in quarter four of 2020-21, which was 90 billion dollars.

Besides, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the enhanced revenue collection in recent months should now be the new normal. She expressed happiness over the buoyant tax collections which crossed one lakh crore rupees for eight months in a row with a record GST collection of 1.41 lakh crore rupees in April this year.

Jobless Claims in the US

The number of Americans applying for unemployment aid fell again last week. The Labour Department reported on Thursday that jobless claims dropped by 51,000 to 364,000. The International Monetary Fund raised its 2021 US growth projection sharply to 7 per cent due to a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and an assumption that much of President Joe Biden's infrastructure and social spending plans will be enacted.

The IMF's latest forecast, marking the fastest US growth pace since 1984, compares with an April projection of 4.6 per cent growth in 2021. The fund raised its 2022 US GDP growth forecast to 4.9 per cent up from its previous 3.5 per cent April forecast. On Thursday, following two days of talks, 130 countries pledged support for the US proposal of a global minimum corporate tax of 15 per cent. In Europe, German retail sales figures for May and eurozone's producer prices data for May are due before the bell today.