Stock Market Update Today: Sensex tumbles 585 pts to end at 49,217; Nifty slides 163 pts to 14,558

Stock Market Update Today: Equity Benchmarks on Thursday, March 18, 2021, declined more than one per cent amid profit booking even as the cues from other Asian stocks were positive. The BSE Sensex closed below 49,500 mark while the NSE Nifty settled below 14,600 level.

The Sensex fell 585.10 points, or 1.17 per cent, to trade at 49,216.52. The NSE Nifty 50 at National Stock Exchange also declined 163.45 points, 1.11 per cent, to trade at 14,557.85. The Nifty Bank lost 372.45 points, or 1.09 per cent, and closed at 33,356.80.

The broader market at BSE also fell underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Mid-Cap index plunged 1.33 per cent while the BSE Small-Cap index tumbled 1.58 per cent.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 834 shares rose and 2147 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 17 shares advanced and 33 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were ITC (up 3.99 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 2.94 per cent), Hindalco (up 1.95 per cent), Grasim (up 1.82 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (up 1.50 per cent). The top five losers were HCL Technologies (down 3.47 per cent), Infosys (down 3.26 per cent), Divis Laboratories (down 3 per cent), Dr Reddy's (down 2.89 per cent) and Hero MotoCorp (down 2.45 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

With a huge spike of 35,871 fresh Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest daily rise since early December, India continues to see a surge in Covid caseload. The government yesterday said a total of 70 districts in 16 states have seen an increase of more than 150 per cent in active cases between March 1-15, 2021. India reported 2,52,364 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,59,216 deaths while 1,10,63,025 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 12,11,58,726 with 26,80,220 deaths.

US Fed Prediction

In the US, the Fed predicted a fast economic recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic and said it would maintain its interest rate at close to zero. While the Fed expects benchmark interest rates to remain near zero for the next two years, the central bank upgraded its economic outlook to reflect expectations for a stronger recovery from the pandemic-triggered recession. GDP is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2021 before cooling off in later years.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that the Fed would need to see material and sustained move in inflation above 2 per cent before considering changes to its current easy policy stance. The global economy is set to grow by 4.7 per cent this year thanks to a stronger-than-expected recovery in the US, a report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Thursday, revising up its previous forecast of 4.3 per cent.