Sensex jumps 613 points to close above 50,000-mark; Nifty shoots up 185 points to end at 15,108

Rising for a second consecutive session, domestic equity barometers ended with strong gains on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. The S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 crossed the 50,000-mark and 15,000-mark respectively. The Nifty 50 index reclaimed the 15,000-mark for the first time since March 12, 2021, on a closing basis.

The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 612.60 points or 1.24 per cent to 50,193.33. The Nifty 50 index added 184.95 points or 1.24 per cent to 15,108.10. The Nifty Bank index surged 463.15 points or 1.38 per cent and closed at 33,922.40.

In the broader market space, the S&P BSE MidCap index zoomed 1.87 per cent to settle at 21,232.21 after hitting a record peak of 21,265.23 levels earlier today. The SmallCap index, meanwhile, ended 1.28 per cent higher at 22,847.90.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1950 shares rose and 1134 shares fell. On the NSE, the Nifty 50 index 42 shares advanced and 8 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra (up 5.77 per cent), Bajaj Auto (up 5.19 per cent), Titan (up 4.95 per cent), Bajaj Finance (up 4.53 per cent) and Adani Ports (up 3.42 per cent). The top five losers were Bharti Airtel (down 2.34 per cent), ITC (down 1.13 per cent), Coal India (down 0.91 per cent), Dr Reddy's (down 0.62 per cent) and Divi's Laboratories (down 0.33 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 16,36,42,990 with 33,90,316 deaths. India reported 33,53,765 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,78,719 deaths while 2,15,96,512 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Besides, India is witnessing a declining trend in the number of active and fresh COVID-19 cases. However, several States and Union Territories are still registering a spike in the cases.

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has said that a record number of over 4.22 lakh patients have recovered from COVID-19 within 24 hours. The recovery rate has further improved to 85.60 per cent in the country. So far, over 2.15 crore patients have already recovered from this infectious disease. The Health Ministry has said, the active cases comprise 13.29 per cent of the cumulative positive cases.

Japanese Economy

Japan's economy shrank more than expected during the first three months of the year, raising the possibility of a double-dip recession as the country struggles to contain infections and speed up its vaccine rollout. GDP contracted an annualised 5.1 per cent from the previous quarter, ending six months of double-digit growth, as businesses cut investment, shoppers held back spending and government outlays fell amid a suspension of a travel-promotion campaign to help the ailing tourism industry.

Economists had forecast an overall contraction of 4.5 per cent. The worse-than-expected result leaves the economy in a vulnerable position this quarter, as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's administration struggles to find the right balance in a targeted approach to virus containment.