Sensex falls 361 points; Nifty at 14,763

After rallying over 3.5% in the previous two trading sessions benchmark Indian equity indices took a breather and opened with a gap down on the last trading day of the financial year 2020-21 (FY21) on account of global cues. In opening trades, Sensex fell 390 points or 0.78% at 49,775 while the broader market index Nifty50 at 14,763 tanking 81 points or 0.55%.

Bajaj Finserv, HUL, Axis Bank, NTPC and Ultratech Cement were top gainers on the Sensex gaining anywhere between 0.5-1.2%. While HDFC twins, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank & TechMahindra were the laggards.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank lost the most down 1.19% followed by Nifty IT fell 1.17% and Nifty Realty was down 0.23%. Whereas Nifty Pharma rose 0.18% & Nifty Metal was up 0.08%.

The broader market outperformed benchmark indices as BSE MidCap was up 0.10% and the BSE SmallCap rose 0.30%.

Stocks in spotlight:

IRB Infrastructure Developers has secured a letter of award from NHAI for a project in West Bengal and emerged as the preferred bidder for another NHAI project in Himachal Pradesh. The orders cumulatively amount to Rs 5,0004 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing.

BHEL has secured an order worth over ₹400 crore to set up a 525 TPD Sulphur Recovery Unit at IOCL’s Paradip Refinery in Odisha and was won against stiff international competitive bidding, BHEL said in a regulatory filing.

Tata Power has secured an order to develop 60 MW (mega watt) solar project for Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam, it said in a regulatory filing.

Ircon International said its board of directors will meet on Monday, 5 April 2021, to consider the proposal for issuance of bonus shares.

JSW Steel announced the completion of the resolution plan for Bhushan Power and Steel worth ₹19,400 crore on Tuesday. analysts reckon that the impact of the Bhushan Power and Steel acquisition may not be too harsh on JSW’s earnings and balance sheet.

L&T construction has secured orders from its prestigious client for its various businesses. The company’s Heavy Civil Infrastructure business has secured an EPC order to construct a New Four-lane Bridge (parallel to the existing Vikramshila Setu) from Km 8plus 080 to Km 14plus 309 including approaches across river Ganga on the newly declared NH-131B at Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar. The project is scheduled to be completed in 48 months. The Water and Effluent Treatment business has bagged a design, build and operate order from Municipal Corporation, Amritsar for engineering, procurement and construction of bulk water supply system in the city of Amritsar. The project is part of Punjab Municipal Services Improvement Project (PMSIP).

Indiamart Intermesh through its wholly owned subsidiary — Tradezeal Online, agreed to acquire 11.01% of the share capital (on fully diluted basis) of Legistify Services. This investment shall be in line with the company’s long term objective of offering various Software as a Service (SaaS) based solutions for businesses.

Rana Sugars has invested its funds in incorporating subsidiary in the name & style of Buttar Biofuels for which the initial shares application money was paid by the company in due course for completing the investment. The main object of the acquisition is to have a Wholly Owned Company which is engaged in the business of manufacturing, producing, refining, processing, buying, selling, importing, exporting or otherwise to deal in ethyl alcohol, ethanol and biodiesel fuel.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Wednesday as investors waited for the release of Chinese economic data.

In economic developments, China’s factory activity expanded at a faster-than-expected pace in March. The official manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 51.9 from 50.6 in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed today.

Japan’s industrial output fell in February. Official data released today showed factory output shrank 2.1% from the previous month in February, dragged down by falls in production of cars, electrical machinery and information and communication equipment.

U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as major technology shares came under pressure again after the 10-year Treasury yield touched its highest level since January 2020.

The 10-year Treasury yield climbed 6 basis points to top 1.77% earlier Tuesday, hitting its highest level in 14 months as vaccine rollouts and expected infrastructure spending boosted the outlook for a broad economic recovery and rising inflation. The benchmark rate later turned flat at 1.72%.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index surged in March to 109.7, its highest reading in a year.