Sensex, Nifty surge on hopes of stimulus, upbeat global stocks

Local stocks opened on a strong on reports of a possible second stimulus to boost sectors hit hard by the pandemic. Upbeat global stocks also boosted sentiment. At 9:15 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 1033.63 points or 3.38% at 31,636.24. The Nifty 50 index was up 293.70 points or 3.27% at 9,286.50.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 2.28%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 2.23%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1023 shares rose and 95 shares fell. A total of 32 shares were unchanged.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian economy and a possible second stimulus to boost sectors hit hard by the pandemic, as per reports. Modi held discussions with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as the pandemic hit sectors from small industries to the aviation sector hard with millions of jobs at stake.

As per reports, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will address the media at 10 am on April 17.

Stocks in news:

TCS rose 4.1%. On a consolidated basis, TCS reported 0.85% fall in net profit to Rs 8,049 crore on 0.03% rise in total income to Rs 40,684 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q3 December 2019.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) advanced 2.36%. M&M said that its step-down wholly owned subsidiary Mahindra Renewables (MRPL) has sold 1,20,80,000 equity shares of Rs. 10 each held by MRPL in Divine Solren (DSPL) aggregating to 100% of the paid-up Equity Share Capital of DSPL to CLP India, for a consideration of Rs 124.47 crore.

JK Lakshmi Cement gained 4.91%. JK Lakshmi Cement said that on the basis of permission received from the Government of Gujarat, the company's grinding units at Kalol and Surat have become partially operational.

Sudarshan Chemical Industries jumped 4.91%. Sudarshan Chemical Industries said that that the necessary permissions have been received to restart production at manufacturing facility located at Mahad. The company is undertaking all safety measures and guidelines including Standard Operating Procedure for Social Distancing at the site, as issued by the Government of India.

Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises was up 5%. CoSara Diagnostics, a Joint Venture of a subsidiary of Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises has started the import and marketing of Test kits of COVID -19 in India based upon license granted by CDSCO.

Grindwell Norton rose 2.59%. Grindwell Norton informed that pursuant to the directives from the authorities, few of the company's plants are partially operational and the operations at other plants remain suspended (except essential services) till May 3, 2020.

Global Markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks and US index futures are trading higher on reports Remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug is showing effectiveness in treating the coronavirus.

China's first quarter GDP shrank 6.8% in 2020 as compared to a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. That was the first quarterly decline since 1992, when official quarterly GDP reports started and a sharp drop from the 6% growth recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.

In US, stocks edged higher on Thursday on surging shares of Netflix and Amazon.com as investors anticipated big earnings from the coronavirus-induced slowdowns keeping people at home.

President Donald Trump laid out new guidelines on Thursday for U.S. states to emerge from a coronavirus shutdown in a staggered, three-stage approach meant to revive the U.S. economy even as the country continues to fight the pandemic.

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