Domestic Stocks Markets closed 1 per cent higher; Sensex rallies 558 points & Nifty ends at 14,653

Stock Market Highlights: Equity indices rallied for the second session on Tuesday, April 27, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 557.63 points or 1.15 per cent and closed at 48,944.92. The Nifty 50 index added 168.05 points or 1.16 per cent to settle at 14,653.10. The Nifty Bank rose 460.20 points or 1.43 per cent to 32,735.35.

The overall market breadth remained firmly in the favour of the bulls as broader markets too participated in the rally. The S&P BSE MidCap index added 1.04 per cent today while the SmallCap index surged 1.49 per cent.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,962 shares rose and 996 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, 41 shares advanced, while 8 shares declined and one share remain unchanged. The top five shares that rose on Nifty were Hindalco (up 5.07 per cent), Tata Steel (up 4.38 per cent), Larsen & Turbo (up 3.60 per cent), Divi's Laboratories (up 3.58 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (3.16 per cent). The top five losers on the index were HDFC Life (down 3.58 per cent), SBI Life (down 1.64 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (down 1.31 per cent), NTPC (down 0.54 per cent) and Nestle India (down 0.47 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 14,78,83,829 with 31,20,894 deaths. India reported 28,82,204 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,97,894 deaths while 1,45,56,209 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Indian Economy

The Reserve Bank of India has asked private banks that the Chair of the board should be an independent director. RBI has published the notification 'Corporate Governance in Banks - Appointment of Directors and Constitution of Committees of the Board' yesterday. It will be applicable to all the Private Sector Banks including Small Finance Banks (SFBs) and wholly owned subsidiaries of Foreign Banks. RBI has asked that the Audit Committee, Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board shall be constituted with only non-executive directors. Non-executive directors should be in majority in the Risk Management Committee of the Board.

The US Economy

The US Federal Reserve, which meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, is expected to defend its policy of letting inflation run hot while assuring markets it sees the pick-up in prices as only temporary. Chairman Jerome Powell will host a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Federal Open Market Committee's decision.

The Fed is expected to announce it will begin trimming its $120 billion in monthly asset purchases before the end of the year as the US economy recovers strongly from COVID-19, according to economists surveyed. That is a bit earlier than forecast in the March survey but leaves Fed asset purchases untouched for several more months, with the first interest-rate increase still not expected until 2023.