Sensex skyrockets 975 points; Nifty ends at 15,175 as banks & financial shine

• Follow

After falling almost 1.25% in the previous two trading session benchmark Indian indices rebounded sharply on Friday and ended almost 2% higher as fresh buying was seen in banking & financials counters, easing Covid concerns, robust Q4 earnings season and favourable global cues. At close, Sensex was at 50,540 skyrocketing 975 points or 1.97% and the Nifty 50 soared 269 points or 1.81%.

“Banks led the charge today buoyed by SBI earnings as Bulls went on a rampage with stimulus hopes and transfer of surplus by the Central Bank to the GOI kept the street bullish. The broader market too witnessed good activity as the curve of daily corona cases displayed a declining trend,” said S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Benchmark indices ended the week 3% higher adding over Rs 7.5 lakh crore to investors wealth take the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to Rs 218.06 lakh crore.

Gainers & losers:

Top of gainers on the Sensex were banking stocks with HDFC Bank leading the pack followed by SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank & Axis Bank rallying over 3.5%. On the downside, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Power Grid on the Sensex.

Sectorally, all indices ended in the green with Nifty Bank, Nifty Fin Service, Nifty PSU Bank & Nifty Private Bank indices surging around 3.5%. That apart, the Nifty Realty index jumped 1.15% whereas Nifty Auto, Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty IT indices closed with gains in the range of 0.40-0.90%.

Volatility gauge India VIX, which measures how much volatility investors anticipate in the next 30 days, continued its downward spiral, ended 3% at 19.05 levels.

However, the broader market underperformed the benchmark indices, as BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap ended with gains of 0.82% & 0.65% respectively.

Economy:

 The 589th meeting of the Central Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was held on Friday, 21 May 2021 under the Chairmanship of Shaktikanta Das, the RBI Governor. The board in its meeting reviewed the current economic situation, global and domestic challenges and recent policy measures taken by the RBI to mitigate the adverse impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on the economy.

The board has approved the transfer of Rs 99,122 crore as surplus to the central government for the accounting period of nine months ended 31 March 2021 (July 2020-March 2021), while deciding to maintain the contingency risk buffer at 5.50%.

Global markets:

Most European shares advanced while Asian stocks were trading mixed on Friday, 21 May 2021, following an overnight bounce on Wall Street. Investors focus is turning to key economic data from the eurozone and U.K.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, rebounding from three straight days of losses as technology shares staged a comeback, while the latest jobless claims totalling a fresh pandemic-era low also boosted sentiment.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped further below 500,000 last week. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000 for the week ended May 15, the Labor Department said. That was the lowest since mid-March 2020 and held claims below 500,000 for two straight weeks.

U.S. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell turned up the heat on cryptocurrencies on Thursday, saying they pose risks to financial stability, and indicating that greater regulation of the increasingly popular electronic currency may be warranted. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, flagged its concerns that wealthy individuals could use the largely unregulated sector to avoid tax and said it wanted big crypto-asset transfers reported to authorities.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a cease-fire on Thursday, halting a bruising 11-day war that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip, brought life in much of Israel to a standstill and left more than 200 people dead.