Indices open firm

Equities staged smart recovery as buying emerged in frontline stocks. At 9:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 571.20 points or 2.01% at 29,011.52. The Nifty 50 index was up 164.70 points or 1.99% at 8,445.80.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.58%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.59%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, 656 shares rose and 120 shares fell. A total of 32 shares were unchanged.

Stocks in news:

Bharti Airtel rose 2.49%. Bharti Airtel announced measures--unrestricted incoming services till 17 April and Rs 10 talk time--to cover more than 80 million low-income mobile customers from the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Piramal Enterprises shot up 4.10%. Piramal Enterprises said the Administrative Committee of the board of directors has approved the allotment of 7,500 secured, rated, unlisted, redeemable non-convertible debentures having a face value of Rs 10,00,000 each, aggregating up to Rs 750 crore.

Britannia Industries was up 2.24%. Britannia Industries said the lockdown ordered by the Centre in the wake of Covid-19 has disrupted its operations. The company is working with authorities to restore operations.

Federal Bank gained 2.70%. Federal Bank said the board has approved an investment of Rs 148 crore in subsidiary-Fedbank Financial Services (FFSL) through rights issue. Objective of the Rights issue is to infuse regulatory capital in the firm. This is more than 5% of the post issue paid up capital of FFSL.

Vedanta rose 2.84%. Vedanta said its mining operations, which manufacture essential commodities, and the oil & gas business will continue across all sites during the lockdown imposed by the Centre to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Global Markets:

Overseas, most Asian markets were trading higher on Tuesday as factory data from China held out the hope of a rebound in activity even as other countries across the globe all but shut down.

China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) bounced to 52.0 in March, up from a record-low 35.7 in February.

In US, stocks rose on Monday as President Donald Trump followed last week's massive fiscal stimulus package by extending his stay-at-home guidelines, leaving investors to await more signs on the next stages of a deepening economic crisis.

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