Shares trade with modest gains; auto stocks in demand

The benchmark indices traded in a narrow range with modest gains in early afternoon trade. Auto stocks advanced. At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 291.95 points or 0.92% at 31,934.65. The Nifty 50 index was up 83.25 points or 0.90% at 9,334.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 1.09% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.35%.

The market breadth was almost even, with slight positive bias. On the BSE, 1090 shares rose and 1014 shares fell. A total of 171 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 39 stocks advanced while 11 stocks declined.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.51% to 37.4425. The Nifty April 2020 futures were trading at 9,340.05, a premium of 5.30 points compared with the spot at 9,334.75.

On the options front, the Nifty option chain for 28 May 2020 expiry showed maximum call open interest (OI) of 22.05 lakh contracts at the 10,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 24.28 lakh contracts was seen at 9,000 strike price.

COVID-19 Update:

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 41,03,152 so far with 2,82,727 deaths. India reported 44,029 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 2,206 deaths, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index surged 3.98% to 5,664.50 on bargain hunting after automakers announced opening of dealerships at various locations. The index lost 7.69% last week.

Tata Motors (up 6.35%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 6.02%), Hero MotoCorp (up 5.94%), TVS Motor Company (up 4.82%), Bajaj Auto (up 4.49%), Eicher Motors (up 3.25%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.76%), Escorts (up 0.45%) and Ashok Leyland (up 0.32%) advanced.

Two-wheeler major Hero MotorCorp on 10 May announced re-opening more than 1500 customer touch-points including authorized dealerships and service centers. These outlets contribute to around 30% of the company's total domestic retail sales. Dealerships of Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda Cars, VE Commercial Vehicles have already opened.

Stocks in Spotlight:

IRCTC hit an upper circuit of 5% at Rs 1302.85 after Ministry of Railways announced plans to gradually restart passenger train operations from 12 May 2020. The railways will start passenger train operations with 15 pairs of trains, which means 30 journeys including the return trips. The passenger trains will have only AC coaches, and the fare structure will be similar to that of Rajdhani Express trains. The bookings for special trains that will travel to major stations, with selective stoppages, will start from 4 PM onwards on 11 May and will be available only on the IRCTC website, the Ministry said.

Goa Carbon declined 3.92% to Rs 175.10 after the company said that its production tumbled 73.69% to 4,436.40 MT in April 2020 as against 16,865.50 MT in April 2019. On a month-on-month (M-o-M) basis, Goa Carbon's production slumped 26.20% in April 2020 from 6,011.40 MT in March 2020.

Cipla lost 0.79% to Rs 587.20. The drug maker has received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the United States Food and Drug Administration for the inspection conducted at the company's Bangalore-based API manufacturing facility. The inspection took place between 20th and 24th of January 2020.

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