Sensex plunged 870 points, Nifty ends at 14,638

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with significant cuts on Monday, April 5, 2021, led by weakness in banks and financial shares. The Sensex and the Nifty today plunged around 1.50 per cent amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country.

The S&P BSE slumped 870.51 points or 1.74 per cent to close at 49,159.32. The Nifty 50 index slipped 229.55 points or 1.54 per cent and settled at 14,637.80. The Nifty Bank closed 1,179.15 points or 3.38 per cent down at 32,678.85.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1061 shares rose and 1897 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 13 shares advanced and 37 shares declined. The top five shares that advanced on Nifty were HCL Technologies (up 3.19 per cent), TCS (up 2.40 per cent), Wipro (up 2.28 per cent), Britannia (up 22.25 per cent) and Infosys (down 2.15 per cent). The top five losers were Bajaj Finance (down 5.74 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 5.54 per cent), SBI (down 4.49 per cent), Eicher Motors (down 4.26 per cent) and M&M (down 3.92 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 13,13,34,009 with 28,53,360 deaths. India reported 7,41,830 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,65,101 deaths while 1,16,82,136 patients have been discharged, data showed.

In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray-led state government on April 4, 2021, imposed new curbs to control the transmission rate of the contagion.

Indian Economy

The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 57.5 in February to a seven-month low of 55.4 in March. However, the latest reading was indicative of a substantial improvement in the health of the sector that outpaced the long-run series average. Meanwhile, GST revenue collection for March 2021 has set a new record with the highest ever collection of Rs 1,23,902 crore. The GST revenue collected in the last month is 27 per cent higher than that collected in March last year.

Further, India's merchandise exports in March 2021 increased an impressive 58.23 per cent to $34 billion as against $21.49 billion in March last year. Exports during April-March 2020-21 were $290.18 billion, as compared to $313.36 billion during the same period of last year, exhibiting a negative growth of 7.40 per cent.

European stock markets were closed for Easter on Monday. Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong were closed for holidays.

US nonfarm payrolls

The US Labour Department reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 9,16,000 in March, the highest since August 2020, while the unemployment rate fell to 6 per cent.