Global cues lift Sensex by 363 points, Nifty opens above 15,000-mark

Indian benchmark equity indices snapped their two-day losing streak and opened with strong gains on Friday tracking Asian peers which are tradings higher following an overnight bounce on Wall Street. In opening trades, Sensex soared 363 points or 0.73% at 49,928, while the Nifty 50 index was trading at 15,021gaining 115 points or 0.77%. 

29 out of 30 stocks were trading in the green. IndusInd Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank were trading with gains of over 1%. On the downside, Powergrid was down about a per cent.

All sectoral indices were trading in the green with Nifty PSU Bank leading the pack 1.63% with Nifty Bank jumped 1.17% and Nifty Realty surged 0.69%. Nifty Metal & Nifty Pharma indices around 0.50%. While Nifty IT, Nifty Auto and  Nifty FMCG were up almost 0.20%.

In the broader market, BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap mirrored benchmark indices and gained 0.75% and 0.70% respectively. The market breadth was in the favour of bulls 1,366 shares advanced compared to 358 scrips declined and 526 stocks remained unchanged.

Earnings today:

Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, SBI, Shree Cement, Anuh Pharma, Birlasoft, CCL Products (India), Container Corporation of India, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, DCW, Dhanuka Agritech, Elgi Equipments, ESAB India, Godrej Industries, Dr Lal PathLabs, Seacoast Shipping Services, Shoppers Stop, South Indian Bank, United Spirits and others will report their quarterly earnings today.

Stocks in spotlight:

L&T transferred its digital transformation business undertaking, incubated and conducted as L&T-NxT to Mindtree, a listed a subsidiary of the company, for Rs 198 crore. The sale is expected to be completed by July 31, subject to satisfaction of conditions precedent identified under the business transfer agreement.

Apollo Tyres to resume operations at the Perambra plant in Kerala from today. The company had suspended operations at the plant pursuant to directives issued by the District Government Authority.

RBI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on City Union Bank for non-compliance with certain provisions of the directions contained in RBI (Lending to MSME Sector) Directions 2017 and the circulars on Educational Loan Scheme and Credit Flow to Agriculture.

Cipla’s Abbreviated New Drug Application for Dolutegravir Sodium has been approved by FDA.

Jaypee Infratech’s creditors deemed a resolution plan by NBCC as non-compliant with the provisions of IBC, according to sources. The plan was rejected due to non-compliance with rules governing the payment of dissenting creditors. Financial creditors to put Suraksha ARC’s plan to vote on Monday. Suraksha ARC’s resolution plan had scored higher than NBCC’s.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ittira Davis has resigned as Additional Director (Non-Executive, Non-Independent) of the bank.

Union Bank of India approved the closure of QIP on May 20 at an issue price of Rs 33.82 per share. The issue price is at a discount of 5% to the floor price of Rs 35.60 per share.

Zee Entertainment reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 272.36 crore for the quarter ended in March 2021. It had reported a net loss of Rs 765.82 crore in the January-March quarter a year ago.

NDTV reported an over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 24.09 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021. It had posted a net profit of Rs 9.20 crore during the January-March period a year ago.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on Thursday reported its March quarter net profit soaring many folds to Rs 3,018 crore on the back of inventory gains and rise in refining margins.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading higher on Friday following an overnight bounce on Wall Street.

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.

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.

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.