MARKET: Sensex posts biggest 1-day gain in percentage terms, ends at 28,536

All that happened in markets today

4:21 PM

MARKET COMMENT | Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The markets rallied after the nationwide lockdown was announced, mainly driven by the Financials. Global markets have been trading in the green, driven by expectations of stimulus measures to support the respective economies and not because of any change in ground realities. A much more stable rally can happen only after any news regarding the virus containment comes in.

3:52 PM

Sectoral gainers and losers on the NSE

3:50 PM

MARKET AT CLOSE | Top gainers and losers on the S&P BSE Sensex

3:45 PM

CLOSING BELL

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 1,862 points or 7 per cent to end at 28,536 while NSE's Nifty50 ended at 8,298, up 497 points or over 6 per cent.

3:43 PM

ALERT :: Moody's downgrades Delhi Airport's ratings

Moody's Investors Service has today downgraded Delhi International Airport Limited's (DIAL) corporate family rating (CFR) and senior secured ratings to Ba3 from Ba2. At the same time, Moody's has downgraded DIAL's Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) to ba3 from ba2. The ratings have also been placed on review for further downgrade.

The outlook has been changed to rating under review from stable. The rating action reflects the worsening coronavirus outbreak and the increasingly stringent travel restrictions imposed both in India and globally, including ongoing measures introduced by the Government of India (Baa2 negative) .

3:26 PM

MARKET UPDATE | NIIT Tech up 25%, rebounds 30% from day's low

3:20 PM

NEWS ALERT | Cabinet approves extending tax rebate on garment exports beyond April 1

3:15 PM

NEWS ALERT | Cabinet approves Rs 1,340 crore funding for regional rural banks

3:04 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank from Sensex locked in 10% upper circuit

3:01 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: 341 stocks locked in lower circuit in an otherwise firm market

-- Of these, 19 stocks are from BSE A group stocks. The list include KRBL, Future Retail, Indiabulls Real Estate, Future Consumer, Edelweiss Financial Services, DHFL, Lakshmi Vilas Bank

2:55 PM

NEWS ALERT :: Heath Min approves manufacturing of ethanol-based sanitizer till June 30, 2020

2:54 PM

Covid-19 rate cuts to tug most Asian bond yields even lower: Poll

Nearly two-thirds of the 12 fixed income strategists polled by Reuters between March 17-24 who answered an additional question said that trend was unlikely to continue much longer, as the recent rise in yields was just a knee-jerk reaction to the massive amount of fiscal stimulus dead ahead. READ MORE

2:53 PM

NEWS ALERT

2:48 PM

BSE500 stocks that hit 52-week low in an otherwise strong market

COMPANY	PRICE(rs)	52 WK LOW		CHG(%)
3M INDIA	16644.95	15685.60		3.91
AAVAS FINANCIERS	870.95	845.75		-7.32
ACC	915.00	895.50		-3.44
ADANI GAS	82.50	76.70		0.73
AEGIS LOGISTICS	115.00	114.00		-2.38

2:46 PM

MARKET UPDATE:: Insurance company shares in focus

-- ICICI Pru up 20%, ICICI Lombard gains 18%, Max Financial (up 17%), SBI Life (up 12%), HDFC Life (up 8%)

2:45 PM

Covid-19 impact: Banks want NPA forbearance for next two quarters or more

A senior official of State Bank of India said, “The real economy is in deep trouble. In the next two quarters or more, banks expect deferment of NPA. Additionally, sectors like aviation, airport infrastructure, logistics, transport and hospitality among other would need some stimulus.” READ MORE

2:40 PM

Reliance Industries pips TCS to become most-valued firm

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on Wednesday surpassed TCS to become the most valued domestic firm by market capitalisation during morning trade following a spike in its share price. The company's scrip zoomed 20 per cent to Rs 1,152 on the BSE. READ MORE

2:38 PM

COMMENT :: Barclays

We expect the RBI to undertake larger, and deeper rate cuts than the 65bp we have factored in so far. We now see the RBI moving close to 65bp at its April policy meeting, and believe an additional 100bp of cuts is needed to stabilize market sentiment between the June-August policy meetings (165bp cumulatively to take rates to 3.5%), along with outright bond purchases through OMOs, possible forbearance for bank loans and targeted liquidity windows for banks and NBFCs.

2:36 PM

ICICI Securities on Symphony

Symphony Ltd held a conference call to provide an update on the business performance and prospective impact of Covid-19 in their domestic and international business. While the first two months of Q4FY20 were strong due to inventory build-up at the dealer’s level, the company has been facing challenges in March due to the lockdown situation in various states.

Though the business condition in Mexico and Australia is normal as of now, any lockdown situation on these countries may impact sales in the coming future. With earnings in the short-term expected to be negatively impacted, Symphony through its strong balance sheet and brand patronage is expected to recover sooner than competition

2:35 PM

Dolat Capital on alcoholic beverages sector

Initially ring fenced from the global outbreak, the impact of COVID-19 has started to take a toll on India and the businesses. Beer as a category is likely to be more severely impacted on two folds viz. (1) Q1 of financial year is peak season and accounts for ~40% of annualized PAT and (2) likely cancellation of IPL. UBL will also have new MD taking over from Aug 1, 2020. IMFL as a category too would be impacted however with situation likely to stabilize by key season of 2H, it may be less than impacted.

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2:33 PM

MARKET ALERT :: Sensex at day's high

2:32 PM

MARKET COMMENT :: Emkay Global

Unlike other countries, the Indian govt has so far been largely silent on the economic impact from the lockdown, leave alone any measures to cushion the hit. Clearly, for the first time in living memory, many industries/SMEs will be running on zero revenues for close to a month. Even the 'opening up' after the lock down is likely to be measured (lest a 'second wave' hits back). For sure, many Indian stocks have fallen to attractive levels. However, we retain the view that the global capital market sentiment would hinge on sustained drop in new daily case counts in the US and Europe

2:29 PM

Global Markets

European shares rose on Wednesday following a strong rally in the previous session, as investors bet on unprecedented stimulus measures to ease the economic pain on businesses and households from the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 2.1 per cent, with energy, industrials, financials and miners leading gains for a second straight day.

Asian stocks gained as US senators and Trump administration officials reached an agreement on a massive economic stimulus bill to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Broader Asia shares advanced with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gaining 3.4 per cent.

(Reuters)

2:26 PM

21-day lockdown must be backed by stimulus measures: Brokerages

Most brokerage are of the view that the 21-day lockdown is the better pill needed to ensure that the economy remains healthy in the long-run. While they see the economy taking a huge knock in the short-term, they expect a sharp recovery if the lockdown, backed with timely fiscal and monetary packages, effectively curbs the spread of the virus. READ MORE

2:24 PM

Recovery from intra-day lows in today's session

COMPANY	DAY'S LOW(RS)	DAY'S HIGH(RS)	RISE(%)
SHOPPERS ST.	171.95	210.15	22.22
NIIT TECH.	984.50	1215.05	22.07
INTERGLOBE AVIAT	844.00	1056.95	21.16
ICICI PRU LIFE	247.85	301.80	20.62
EIH	55.75	68.05	19.28
RELIANCE INDS.	951.00	1131.70	19.00

2:19 PM

BROKERAGE RADAR | JM Financial on Thyrocare Tech

The benefits of price cuts and increase in promotional spend undertaken by Thyrocare in FY19 are now visible with the company approaching an optimal price - volume mix and set to exit FY20 with the highest realization growth in pathology among peers. While imaging volumes have been impacted by suspension of operations at 2 centres, realizations continue to grow in double-digits with the business expected to stabilize in FY21. At 19x FY21E EPS, the stock is now trading at c.30% discount to its historical trading range. The FY21 outlook remains hostage to near term variables like the length of lockdown. However, even with modest assumptions of volume and realization growth, we expect Thyrocare to post margin expansion of c.520 bps over FY19-22 and a sharp improvement in its return profile (FY22E ROE of c.32% vs c.19% in FY19). Reiterate BUY with a DCF-based Mar’21 TP of Rs 660.

2:18 PM

MARKET ALERT :: Sensex surges over 1,900 pts

2:12 PM

IRCTC hits lower circuit for 8th straight day, declines 58% in one month

The stock of the state-owned travel support services company hit a five-month low, and was trading at its lowest level since October 22, 2019. In the past one month, it has tanked 58 per cent, against a 30 per cent decline in the benchmark index. IRCTC had made a stock market debut on October 14, 2019. READ MORE

2:07 PM

European markets open higher

2:03 PM

STOCK ALERT | Reliance Industries, up 19%, records its sharpest intra-day rally in more than a decade

-- Earlier, on May 18, 2009, the stock had zoomed 24 per cent on the BSE