State Bank of India, Tata Steel and HDFC led the intra-day bounceback in the markets
The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes recovered sharply in afternoon trading on Friday after tumbling earlier in the session. The indexes plunged more than 10 per cent each at opening, triggering a “circuit breaker” for the first time since 2008 as panic over the coronavirus pandemic gripped global markets. The indexes swung wildly after trading resumed at 10:20 am following a 45 minute halt. The Sensex rallied as much as 5,380 points or 18.3 per cent and Nifty surged a whopping 18.75 per cent or 1,604 points from the day’s lowest level.
The Sensex ended 1,325 points or 4 per cent higher at 34,103 and NSE Nifty 50 index jumped 3.8 per cent or 365 points to close at 9,955. The broader markets also ended in the green; the BSE Midcap index gained 2 per cent to 12,639 and the smallcap index added 1.2 per cent to 11,761.
“Global stocks have recovered, this is helping our markets. The 45-minute breather gave people time to think and value buying emerged,” Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Securities told news agency Reuters.
Sentiment was bolstered as US lawmakers neared an agreement with the White House on an economic rescue package to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus impact. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped to announce a deal on Friday, sending US stock futures rising over 4 per cent.
Meanwhile, the rupee recovered to as high as 73.92 against the US dollar, regaining strength after dropping below 74.48 to register a new record low of 74.50.
Banking stocks soared fuelled the market bounce-back. SBI gained nearly 14 per cent to 242, while ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank added between 5-10 per cent each. The other significant gainers were Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Maruti Suzuki, which added between 3-5 per cent each. On the other hand, Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever and Hero Motocorp shed 1-4 per cent each.
The market breath was strong at closing. Out of 2549 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1249 advancing stocks as against 1138 declines.
