Sensex slumps 339 points, Nifty below 14,200

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Indian markets opened with a gap-down on Thursday amid a record spike in Covid-19 cases in the country. In opening trades, Sensex plummeted  339 points or 0.71% at 47,366 and broader market index Nifty at 14,198 down 98 points or 0.68%.

Dr Reddy’s, ONGC, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto & HCL Tech are top gainers on the Sensex. Ultratech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, TechMahindra and Axis Bank were the laggards on the Sensex.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Metal & Nifty Pharma gained over 1% despite mayhem in the markets. On the other hand, Nifty Bank & Nifty FMCG tanked over 1%. Nifty Auto & Nifty IT lost over 0.50%.

BSE Midcap index mirrored the losses of benchmark indices was down 0.50%. While the BSE SmallCap index was trading with marginal gains of 0.01%.

Results today: Cyient, Indus Towers, Rallis India, Sasken Technologies, Tata Elxsi, Visaka Industries, Amal, Fineotex Chemical, Filatex India, Hindustan BioSciences, Indbank Merchant Banking Services, and Ind Bank Housing will release their quarterly earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight: Hero MotoCorp and Gogoro Inc. have entered into a strategic partnership to accelerate the shift to sustainable electric mobility in India. The partnership brings together the company and Gogoro, the global leader in urban battery swapping and smart mobility innovation.

Maruti Suzuki India’s — Cargo Variants of EECO have been upgraded to a new version of the Reverse Park Alert Systems (RPAS) system. The revised Ex-showroom price applicable in Delhi shall vary from approximately Rs 4.27 lakh to Rs 5.49 lakh. The same is effective from April 21, 2021.

KEC International has won new orders of Rs 1,245 crore across various businesses. The transmission and distribution business secured orders of Rs 629 crore for projects in India, SAARC, Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

Lupin has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in the USA under the name ‘Lupin Oncology Inc.’ (LOI). This wholly-owned subsidiary will be engaged in the development/co-development and commercialization of multiple oncology products globally. LOI will be pursuing partners, financial sponsors and perform such other acts as may be necessary.

AstraZeneca Pharma India has launched Fasenra in India. Benralizumab (Fasenra) is indicated as an add-on maintenance treatment for severe asthma with an eosinophilic phenotype in adult patients.

LIC Housing Finance’s parent organization — Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has collected new premiums of Rs 1.84 lakh crore in FY21. It also paid out Rs 1.34 lakh crore as claims during the year. Despite the Coronavirus outbreak where there was a nationwide lockdown imposed during Q1FY21, this is its highest ever new premium collection by LIC.

GE Power India has completed the acquisition of 50% of the issued and paid-up share capital of NTPC GE Power Services (NGSL) on April 19, 2021. Earlier, the company’s board had approved the acquisition of 50% of the issued and paid-up share capital of NGSL for Rs 7.2 crore. The acquisition of shares of NGSL from GEPower Systems GmbH is a related party transaction as the Company and GE Power Systems GmbH are GE Group Affiliates.

Global markets: Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Thursday following an overnight bounce on Wall Street.

In the U.S., Wall Street rebounded on Wednesday after a two-day decline in a broad rally as a tilt toward stocks poised to benefit from a recovering economy offset Netflix Inc’s sell-off after its disappointing results a day earlier. Both the S&P 500 and Dow hit all-time highs.