Barometers near day's high; Nifty hits record high

The benchmark indices were trading near the day's high in early afternoon trade. Sentiment was positive as fresh COVID-19 cases in India continued to decline and vaccination pace picked up. Barring the Nifty Auto index, all sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green.

At 12:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 132.66 points or 0.25% at 52,408.23. The Nifty 50 index gained 50.45 points or 0.32% at 15,790.55. The Nifty index hit a record high of 15,800.45 in early afternoon trade.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.91% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 1%.

The market breadth was robust. On the BSE, 2,160 shares rose and 895 shares fell. A total of 141 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The World Bank, on 8 June 2021, projected India's economy to grow at 8.3% in 2021. Earlier, the World Bank had estimated Indian economy to grow at a pace of 10.1% in FY 2021-22. Citing the reason to slash the FY22 growth of Indian economy, the global lending and monitoring body said that India has been hampered by the largest outbreak of coronavirus cases that any country has seen since the beginning of the pandemic.

"In India, an enormous second COVID-19 wave is undermining the sharper-than-expected rebound in activity seen during the second half of FY2020/21, especially in services. With surging COVID-19 cases, foot traffic around work and retail spaces has again slowed to more than one-third below pre-pandemic levels since March, in part due to greater restrictions on mobility," World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.

The World Bank on Tuesday upgraded its growth forecast, with the global economy now expected to grow 5.6% in 2021. That compared against an earlier forecast in January for a 4% global economic expansion in 2021. Still, the organization warned in a Tuesday press release that global output will be about 2% below pre-pandemic projections by the end of this year in spite of the recovery.

Coronavirus Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 17,39,98,753 with 37,47,372 deaths. India reported 12,31,415 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 3,53,528 deaths while 2,75,04,126 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

As many as 92,596 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. This marks a slight uptick in the new reported cases after falling to a 63-day low of 86,498 on Tuesday. The positivity rate now stands at 4.67%. India has recorded a positivity rate below 10% for 16 consecutive days now. The cumulative caseload has reached 2,90,89,069.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 2.38% to 14.8625. The Nifty 24 June 2021 futures were trading at 15,804.50, at a premium of 13.95 points as compared with the spot at 15,790.55.

The Nifty option chain for 24 June 2021 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 24.1 lakh contracts at the 16,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 31.1 lakh contracts was seen at 15,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index fell 0.03% to 10,871.15. The index added 3.97% in the past five sessions.

Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.14%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.70%), Eicher Motors (down 0.57%), TVS Motor Company (down 0.49%) and MRF (down 0.33%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ion Exchange (India) hit an upper circuit of 20% at Rs 2,036.20 after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 144.2% to Rs 70.48 crore on 26.8% rise in net sales to Rs 445.15 crore in Q4 March 2021 over Q4 March 2020. Profit before tax soared 127.9% to Rs 89.80 crore in Q4 FY21 as against Rs 39.41 crore in Q4 FY20. During the financial year, Ion Exchange (India)'s consolidated net profit climbed 52.23% to Rs 143.33 crore on 2.04% decline in revenue from operations to Rs 1,449.52 crore in FY 2021 over FY 2020.

Archit Organosys soared 8.43% after Standard Greases and Specialities purchased 0.67% stake in the company via bulk deal on Tuesday (8 June). According to bulk deal data on the BSE, Standard Greases and Specialities acquired 1 lakh shares (equivalent to 0.67% stake) in Archit Organosys yesterday (8 June 2021) at an average price of Rs 46.99 per share.

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