The Bank Nifty ended 311.75 points or 0.94 per cent high at 33.318.20

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with strong gains on Friday, March 26, 2021, mirroring firm global stocks. All the sectoral indices on the NSE also ended in the green today.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 568.38 points or 1.17 per cent to close at 49,008.50. The Nifty 50 index surged 182.40 points or 1.27 per cent to close above 14,500-mark at 14,507.30. The Bank Nifty ended 311,75 points or 0.94 per cent high at 33.318.20.

Overall, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 1.66 per cent higher, while the SmallCap counterpart closed with a 1.08 per cent gain.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1658 shares rose and 1299 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 43 shares advanced and 6 shares declined, while one share was unchanged. The top five stocks that gained on Nifty were Tata Steel (up 5.89 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (up 4.45 per cent), Titan (up 3.99 per cent), Tata Motors (up 3.97 per cent) and Asian Paints (up 3.96 per cent). The top five losers were Power Grid down (1.39 per cent), UPL (down 1.28 per cent), Eicher Motors (down 0.84 per cent), ITC (down 0.33 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (down 0.19 per cent).

On the other hand, the shares of Tata Group companies advanced after the Supreme Court today set aside the December 2019 ruling of the National Campany Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that directed the reinstatement of Cyrus Mistry as chairperson of Tata Sons. Tata Steel, Tata Communications, Indian Hotels Company, Tata Power, Tata Motors, Tinplate Company, Titan Company, Tata Investment Corporation, Tata Consumer Products, Voltas, Tata Coffee, Tata Chemicals, Tata Steel Long Products, Tata Metaliks, TCS and Rallis India rose by between 0.38 per cent and 5.73 per cent.

Debuting at the bourses, shares of Kalyan Jewellers listed at Rs 73.90, 15 per cent below its issue price of Rs 87 per share on the BSE today. The stock, however, reversed losses and hit a high of Rs 81 in the intra-day trade before closing at Rs 74.4. Suryoday Small Finance Bank listed at a 4 per cent discount, at Rs 292 on the BSE, as against an issue price of Rs 305. The stock hit an intra-day low of Rs 271 but ended at Rs 272.

Also, the Rs 453 crore IPO of Barbeque Nation's initial public offering was subscribed 5.98 times by 5:00 pm on the last day of subscription. It has received bids for 2,99,00,250 shares, which was 5.98 times of the 49,99,609 shares offered for public subscription. The retail quota was subscribed 13.13 times. The interest qualified institutional buyers was also strong as their allotment was subscribed 5.1 times. The company had on Tuesday raised Rs 202 crore from 15 anchor investors.

The stock markets will remain shut on Monday on account of Holi.

COVID-19 Update

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 12,54,92,163 with 27,55,210 deaths. India reported 4,21,066 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,60,949 deaths while 1,12,64,637 patients have been discharged, data showed. India recorded its highest single-day Covid-19 count in over five months on Thursday with 59,118 people testing positive for the virus.

On the other hand, more than 5.55 crore doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to the beneficiaries in the country so far. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has informed today that over 23.58 lakh doses of vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the last 24 hours.

Recovery in the US

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged Thursday that fiscal help from Congress and accelerated vaccine distribution has allowed the US to recover faster than expected.