Sensex Opens Over 250 Points Up; Healthcare and IT Stocks Lead

Wed, 18 Mar 09:30 am

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Asian stock markets are higher today as stocks on Wall Street bounced back overnight on hopes of stimulus as the country grapples with the coronavirus outbreak. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.5% while the Hang Seng is up 0.1%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 1.7%.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 6% on Tuesday, clawing back a significant portion of Monday's steep losses, as the Federal Reserve and the White House took further steps to boost liquidity and stem damage from the coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 5.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 6.2%.

Back home, India share markets open higher tracking their global peers. The BSE Sensex is trading up by 272 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 92 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index opened up by 1.5% and 1.2% respectively.

All sectoral indices are trading in green with healthcare stocks, metal stocks and IT stocks witnessing maximum buying interest.

Speaking coronavirus impact on Indian stock markets, the chart below shows the trend in the total market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies since the start of 2020.

Coronavirus Triggers Massive Wipeout of Investor Wealth

As you can see, through most of January and February, the total market capitalisation hovered between Rs 150-160 trillion.

It was only in the last week of February that a massive sell-off started on rising fears of the coronavirus outbreak escalating into a global pandemic.

So, what should you do in such times?

In this emergency episode of the Investor Hour, Rahul Goel talks to Vijay Bhambwani, who he calls India's #1 trader.

Vijay dives deep in this "coronavirus" situation and presents a picture which we believe would be extremely beneficial to any investor or trader.

Whatever you do, don't miss this emergency issue of the Investor Hour!

Listen in here...

Moving on, the rupee is currently trading at 74 against the US$.

The rupee pared its initial gains to settle marginally lower at 74.28 against the US dollar on Tuesday amid continued meltdown in equity markets and sustained foreign fund outflows.

The Indian rupee which started the day on a positive note, witnessed heavy volatility amid fears that the rate cut by the Reserve Bank would not be sufficient to boost market sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.16.

During the day it saw a high of 73.86 and a low of 74.32 against the American currency. The domestic unit finally settled at 74.28 against the greenback, down 2 paise over its previous closing price.

Speaking of gloomy economy, coronavirus fears, falling markets and crude oil prices, Ajit Dayal has written an insightful piece, sharing his views in the latest edition of The Honest Truth.

Here's a snippet from the article:

• Is the meltdown over?
  
  While the unravelling of the debt excess in the US and the developed world may have some more to play out, the question on an investor's mind in India is: Is the mayhem over and what should I do next?
  
  On the face of it, there is some interesting Upside Potential, or potential profit, if you were to buy the specific stocks now and assume, they get back to their past peak levels over, say, the next 2 to 3 years.
  
  With the help of either some jaadu mantar or some good policy.
  
  But there are some "bets" I would be very cautious about: Yes Bank, Reliance and the INR, for instance.

You can read his entire article here: The Market Gets a Viral Attack.

In the news from oil & gas sector. Oil prices steadied early on Wednesday after sliding to their lowest in four years, sapped by fears for fuel demand and the global economy amid travel and social lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus epidemic in a number of countries around the world.

Brent crude was up 0.3% at US$28.8 a barrel after falling earlier to US$28.4, the lowest since early 2016.

The international benchmark fell 4.3% on Tuesday. US crude was down at US$26.9 a barrel, after falling to as low as US$26.2, also the lowest in four years. West Texas Intermediate fell 6% on Tuesday.

In a recent article, we have written the entire timeline showing economics of falling crude oil prices. You can check the same here: All About the 30% Crash in Crude Oil - 10 Points

Going ahead, market participants are expecting crude oil prices to remain low until OPEC+ resets oil production again.

Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts at Equitymaster, states that at this point in time, short selling natural gas & crude oil at significantly higher levels for the coming summer are high conviction trades.

To know more about his view and positions, you can check out his recent article here: Energy Markets Get Muddy (requires subscription).

And to know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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