Benchmarks trade with small gains; metal stocks in demand

The key equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in morning trade. Metal stocks rose for seventh day. The Nifty hovered near the 14,700 mark.

At 10:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 130.63 points or 0.27% to 49,289.95. The Nifty 50 index added 53.60 points or 0.37% to 14,691.40.

In broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.71% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.80%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1644 shares rose and 778 shares fell. A total of 111 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 131,707,267 with 2,859,868 deaths.

India reported 788,223 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 165,547 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Metal index rose 1.39% to 4,285.15. The index has added 15.27% in seven sessions.

Hindustan Copper (up 5%), JSW Steel (up 3.07%), National Aluminum Co. (up 2.77%), SAIL (up 2.23%), APL Apollo Tubes (up 2.04%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 1.65%), Hindalco Industries (up 1.64%), Coal India (up 1.12%) and Welspun Corp (up 1.11%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Bajaj Finance added 1.40% to Rs 5033 after the company's customer franchise as of 31 March 2021 stood at 48.6 million, up by 14.08% from 42.6 million as of 31 March 2020. New loans booked during Q4 FY21 were 5.5 million as against 6 million in Q4 FY20.

Assets under management (AUM) stood at approximately 1.53 lakh crore as of 31 March 2021 compared with Rs 1.47 lakh crore as of 31 March 2020, registering a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 4.08%. The company's deposit book increased by 20.41% as it stood at approximately Rs 25,800 crore as of 31 March 2021 as compared to Rs 21,427 crore as of 31 March 2020.

Panacea Biotec surged 17.14% to Rs 215.60 after the company announced cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik-V vaccine. Production of Sputnik-V at Panacea Biotec sites will help facilitate global supply of Sputnik V to international partners of RDIF.

IRCON International rose 1.57% to Rs 90.60. The company said that its board of directors approved and recommended the issuance of one bonus share for each share held as on the date of record date.

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