Stock Market Today: Domestic equity markets closed in red; Sensex loses 155 points & Nifty closes at 14,835

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with small losses after a volatile day on Friday, April 9, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex declined 154.89 points or 0.31 per cent and close at 49,591.32. The Nifty 50 index lost 38.95 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 14,834.85. The Nifty Bank fell 334.80 points or 1.02 per cent to 32,448.05.

Trends in the broader markets were mixed as the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed 0.69 per cent higher while the S&P BSE MidCap index dipped 0.07 per cent.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1666 shares rose and 1234 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 22 shares advanced and 26 shares declined while 2 shares remain unchanged. The top five gainers on Nifty were Cipla (up 5.34 per cent), Sun Pharma (up 3.54 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (up 2.55 per cent), Tech Mahindra (up 2.14 per cent) and Tata Consumer Products (up 2.06 per cent). The top five losers were Bajaj Finance (down 3.01 per cent), UPL (down 2.40 per cent), Tata Steel (down 2.16 per cent), UltraTech Cement (down 2.08 per cent) and NTPC (down 2 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 13,39,71,287 with 29,02,493 deaths. India reported 9,79,608 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,67,642 deaths while 1,19,13,292 patients have been discharged, data showed. Ten states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab have shown a steep rise in the daily Covid-19 cases, accounting for 84.21 per cent of the 1,26,789 new infections, the health ministry said on Thursday. The national weekly Covid-19 positivity rate has increased by 6.21 per cent from 2.19 per cent to 8.40 per cent in the first seven days of March and April, the ministry said.

The US Economy

Federal Reverse chairman Jerome Powell signalled on Thursday that the economic rebound from the pandemic still has room to go as the recovery thus far has not been well-rounded. Mr Powell also repeated that inflation is not expected to be serious even though near-term price pressures are likely. Data showed an unexpected rise in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits. A total of 744,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time during the week ended April 3, the US Labour Department said on Thursday.