Sensex rises 272 pts, Nifty closes above 14,700 mark

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Equity indices ended with decent gains on Thursday. The Nifty scaled the 14,700 mark and closed above that level. PSU banks saw profit-taking while metal, IT and auto stock witnessed buying demand. At close, Sensex added 272 points or 0.56% to 48,949. The Nifty 50 index gained 106.95 points or 0.73% to 14,724.65.

Wipro (up 4.32%), HDFC (up 2.34%) and Infosys (up 1.26%) boosted the indices.

Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma indices ended with losses of 1.2% and 0.3%, respectively. On the upside, Nifty Metal, Nifty IT and Nifty Auto indices soared up to 2.5%.

“Traders overlooked Fitch Solutions forecasted real GDP to grow 9.5 per cent in 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022). Risks to this forecast are to the downside, as the surge in new daily COVID-19 caseloads will most likely see an extension and expansion of lockdowns. Meanwhile, in order to prevent the COVID-induced health crisis from turning into a full-blown economic catastrophe, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked multilateral lending institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to extend support to developing countries,” said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.91% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.59%.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,643 shares rose and 1,349 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday slashed India’s GDP growth forecast for the current financial year to 9.8% saying the second COVID-19 wave may derail the budding recovery in the economy and credit conditions. The US-based rating agency in March had a 11% GDP growth forecast for India for the April 2021-March 2022 fiscal on account of a fast-economic reopening and fiscal stimulus.

S&P, which currently has a ‘BBB-‘ rating on India with a stable outlook, said the depth of the Indian economy’s deceleration will determine the hit on its sovereign credit profile. It said the projections assume that initial shocks to private consumption and investment filter through to the rest of the economy.

Global Markets:

Shares in Europe and Asia advanced on Thursday as investors looked ahead to the U.S. jobs report due later this week for clues about how long the Fed will stay on hold. The U.S. jobs report for April is due on Friday.

U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday as strong earnings results and economic optimism pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high.

The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it supports waiving intellectual patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, as countries struggle to manufacture the life-saving doses.