Hopes for early vaccine for Covid-19 cases came as a boost to investor sentiments even as HDFC, RIL and IT stocks pushed
Sensex upwards by 429 points or 1.21 per cent to close at 35,844 while Nifty rose 122 points or 1.17 per cent to end at 10,552 on Thursday.
Gains in world equities were also in sync with the domestic indices. Global indices were positive with news of encouraging trials of a vaccine being developed for the Coronavirus. A vaccine developed by German biotech firm BioNTech and US Pharmaceutical Giant Pfizer has shown potential and was found to be well tolerated in early stage human trials.
However, rise in Coronavirus cases in India continued to be a cause of worry as the number crossed six lakh mark in India. While it took 110 days for coronavirus infections in the country to cross one lakh it took just 44 days more to reach the six lakh mark. A total of 19148 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll has gone up to 17,834 including 434 fatalities in the last 24 hours. This also suppressed the mood of the investors on Thursday although gains in the world equities were positive.
A total of 22 of the 30 Sexsex stocks ended in the green with HDFC contributing most to the Sensex’s gains following a 2.95 per cent rise.
IT Majors Infosys and TCS rose 3.25 per cent and 3.14 per cent respectively. RIL rose by 1.30 per cent.
BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices logged 1.04 per cent and 0.92 per cent gains respectively.
BSE IT Index became the top sectoral gainer by rising 2.91 per cent, while Consumer Durables Index followed with a 2.73 per cent gain. BSE Bankex was the only sectoral index to close in the red with a 0.19 per cent decline.
Private lender Axis Bank dropped 2.24 per cent as traders locked in gains after the stock rose 6.58 per cent in the previous session. According to the bank it would raise unto Rs 15000 crore as its Board has approved the fund raising through issuance of various instruments. Kotak Bank also fell 0.35 per cent.
Shares of railway-linked companies went up after the Indian Railways announced that it would allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network by inviting participation on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains.
IRCTC, Rail Vikas Nigam and Ircon International rose 3.56 per cent, 7.14 per cent and 3.85 per cent respectively. Other rail-listed stocks such as Titagarh Wagons, Texaco Rail and Cimmco rose 4.95 per cent, 12.86 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Vodafone added to further losses of Thursday by dropping 1.8 per ent after it reported a huge loss of Rs 73,878 crore in fiscal ending March.
Experts said that investors are expected to watch progress on a vaccine for Covid-19 treatment, monitor political and border developments between India and China, direction in Global Markets and continued surge in Coronavirus cases in India and abroad, in the next few days.
