Sensex, Nifty closed with a gain of more than 1 pct amid mixed global cues

The domestic stocks markets closed with a gain of more than one per cent on Monday, April 26, 2021, amid mixed global cues. The S&P BSE Sensex soared 508.06 points or 1.06 per cent and closed at 48,386.51. The Nifty 50 index closed with a gain of 143.65 points or 1 per cent at 14,485. The Nifty Bank index gained 552.85 points or 1.74 per cent to close at 32,275.15.

The broader markets that were earlier performing in line with benchmarks eventually underperformed at the bourses. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed 0.60 per cent higher while the BSE SmallCap index was up 0.88 per cent.

Buyers outpaced sellers. On the BSE, 1,884 shares rose and 1130 shares fell. On NSE Nifty 50 index, 39 shares advanced and 11 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Axis Bank (up 4.19 per cent), JSW Steel (up 3.40 per cent), UltraTech Cement (up 3.33 per cent), ICICI Bank (up 3.29 per cent) and Grasim (up 3.28 per cent). The top five losers were Cipla (down 2.96 per cent), Britannia (down 2.86 per cent), HCL Technologies (down 2.68 per cent), BPCL (down 1.29 per cent) and Sun Pharma (down 0.71 per cent).

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 147,195,389 with 3,109,449 deaths. India reported 2813658 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,95,123 deaths while 1,43,04,382 patients have been discharged, data showed.

The US Economic Data

In US economic data, the IHS Markit purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector rose to a record 60.5 in April from 59.1 a month earlier, while the services sector PMI jumped to 63.1 from 60.4. New home sales rose to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1.021 million in March, the US Census Bureau reported the fastest pace since 2006. Month-over-month, sales rose 20.7 per cent. Also, the Census Bureau revised the sales figure for February up to a rate of 8,46,000, from the originally reported rate of 7,75,000.

The Federal Reserve is expected to 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.

In contrast, the Bank of Canada said last week it would scale back its purchases of government debt and accelerate the timetable for a possible rate increase

European Central Bank

The European Central Bank meeting on April 22, 2021, left its crisis-fighting tools unchanged.