Sensex ends above 49,000-mark as metal stocks shine

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Indian benchmark indices rose for the third consecutive session on Friday. Indices opened gap up but corrected soon thereafter. After making an intraday low in noon trade, it again began to rise as strong economic data from Germany and other major economies coupled with healthy corporate earnings lifted investor sentiment. At close, Sensex rallied 256 points or 0.52% to end at 49,206 and the broader market index Nifty ended at 14,823 jumping 98 points or 0.67%.

Metal stocks were the star of the day as the Nifty Metal ended 4.7% higher with NALCO (up 9.85%), NMDC (up 8.07), SAIL (up 8.04%), Tata Steel (up 7.5%).

On the Sensex HDFC, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC & Bharti Airtel were the top gainers surging up to 2.71%. On the downside, Bajaj Auto tumbled 2%, Bajaj Finance & Infosys tanked around 0.65%.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index lost 0.04% while the BSE SmallCap index added 0.15%. Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,692 shares rose and 1,319 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Global markets:

Most shares in Europe traded higher while most Asian stocks closed on a positive note on Friday ahead of the U.S. jobs report due later in the day that might provide some indication on what the Fed could do next. Investors will be looking ahead to the U.S. nonfarm payroll count for April due Friday.

In Europe, the Bank of England said on Thursday it would slow the pace of its bond-buying as it sharply increased its forecast for Britain’s economic growth this year after its coronavirus slump. The BoE kept its benchmark interest rate at an all-time low of 0.1% and the size of its bond-buying programme unchanged at 895 billion pounds ($1.24 trillion).

China’s services sector expanded at the sharpest pace in four months in April. The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 56.3, the highest since December when the same reading was registered and up from 54.3 in March. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Japan’s services sector activity contracted in April. The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 49.5 from the prior month’s 48.3, the slowest pace of activity decline in the current 15-month run of contractionary PMIs.

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday the recent jump in COVID-19 cases in India posed downside risks to the Fund’s April forecast for 12.5% growth in India’s economic output in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. The IMF will revisit that forecast when it issues a fresh World Economic Outlook in July, as per reports.

In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Thursday, bolstered by an upbeat weekly jobless claims report, while vaccine makers dipped after U.S. President Joe Biden backed plans to waive patents on COVID-19 shots.

A Labor Department report showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a seasonally adjusted 498,000 for the week ended 1 May 2021, compared with 590,000 in the prior week. US private firms added 742,000 jobs in April, payrolls firm ADP said Wednesday, marking a fourth straight monthly gain.