Sensex plunges 537 points; Nifty ends at 13,818

Domestic shares tumbled sharply on Thursday, January 28, 2021, amid expiry of the January series of the Futures and Options (F&O) contracts, and profit-booking on stretched valuations and ahead of the Union Budget announcement next week. The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 535.57 points or 1.13 per cent to 46,874.36. The Nifty 50 index lost 149.95 points or 1.07 per cent and settled at 13,817.55. However, Nifty Bank gained 73.75 points or 0.24 per cent to close higher at 30,358.30.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.46 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index slipped 0.45 per cent.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,551 shares rose and 1,324 shares fell, while a total of 165 shares were unchanged. On the Nifty 50 index, 17 shares advanced and 33 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Axis Bank (up 5.54 per cent), SBI (up 2.63 per cent), IOC (1.59 per cent), BPCL (up 1.55 per cent) and GAIL (up 1.14 per cent). The top five losers on the index were Hindustan Unilever (down 3.65 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (down 3.44 per cent), Wipro (down 3.01 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 2.67 per cent) and Power Grid (down 2.52 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 10,08,50,283 with 21,73,938 deaths. India reported 1,73,740 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,53,847 deaths while 1,03,73,606 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Country's COVID-19 recovery rate reaches 96.94 per cent

A total of over 23.55 lakh people have been administered COVID-19 vaccines in the country so far. Nearly 3.25 lakh people were vaccinated during the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the country's COVID-19 recovery rate reached 96.94 per cent with the total recovery of more than 14,000 and patients in the last 24 hours. The Health Ministry said that more than 1.37 crore patients have already recovered from this disease. The number of COVID-19 active cases is on a continuously declining trajectory in the country.

US Economy

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the US economy was a long way from full recovery and still short of policymakers' inflation and job goals. The central banker made it clear that the US central bank was nowhere near exiting massive support for the economy during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, as officials left their benchmark interest rate unchanged near zero.

Declaring that the battle against Covid-19 is not over, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pledged to keep the monetary spigots wide open to aid the pandemic-hit economy, brushing aside concerns the super-easy stance will spawn a stock market bubble and too-high inflation. Mr Powell repeatedly referred to the poor conditions of the labour market. He spoke fervently about the plight of those whose lives have been upended by the virus, repeatedly pointing to the 9 million Americans still without jobs as a result of the pandemic.

It was a message for some Fed officials who have entertained the notion that the recovery could be stronger than expected, requiring the Fed to start pulling back on asset purchases this year. It was also a signal to the new administration that the Fed shares its goal of getting Americans back to work as quickly as possible.