Sensex Zooms 1,028 Points; Oil & Gas, FMCG and Metal Stocks Rally

Tue, 31 Mar Closing

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Indian share markets continued to trade in the green during closing hours and ended their day on a strong note, tracking global cues.

Benchmark indices extended gains as the session progressed, as relatively better factory output data from China supported investor sentiment.

China's official purchasing manufacturers' index (PMI) bounced to 52, from a record-low 35.7 in February, while services PMI stood at 52.3 versus the previous 29.6 as factories began to re-open.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 1,028 points (up 3.6%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 317 points (up 3.8%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 2.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 3%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the oil & gas sector, FMCG sector and metal sector.

Asian stock markets rose today on prospects of more government stimulus and lockdowns to combat the virus spread.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up 1.4% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.1%.

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Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that the Sensex saw its biggest one-day fall on Monday 23 March.

Is this the Future of Stock Trading?

The coronavirus pandemic has created a sense of fear among investors and traders worldwide.

What is different about this market crash unlike others before it, is the pace of fall.

The Indian share market has fallen more than 35% from its peak in just over a month, which is the fastest crash in history.

The sharp decline can be attributed to algorithmic trading as well as foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows.

Co-head of Research, Tanushree Banerjee believes, in this new era of sharp declines, the rebound rally can be equally sharp and quick as well. It is important to remember this.

A part of this decline is due to the coronavirus impact, a part of it is due to external factors as well.

Look at fundamentally strong stocks in this market correction. She believes, these stocks will likely rebound the fastest when the coronavirus threat passes.

Moving on, gold prices are currently trading down by 0.8% at Rs 43,500.

Gold prices in India edged lower today, extending decline to the third day. In global markets, prices edged lower amid a rally in global equity markets and a stronger dollar.

Speaking of gold, in his latest video, Vijay Bhambwani talks about why hasn't gold moved up in India as much as it has abroad?

You can check the same here: Is the Price of Gold About to Go Higher?

The rupee is currently trading at 75.45 against the US$.

In news from the energy sector, shares of oil marketing companies witnessed buying interest today as crude oil prices remained near 18-year lows amid demand destruction fears due to coronavirus pandemic.

However, crude oil prices recovered ground after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to talks to stabilize energy markets.

Oil markets have faced a double whammy from the coronavirus outbreak and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia after OPEC and other producers failed to agree on deeper cuts to support oil prices in early March.

The BSE Oil & Gas index rose over 8.5% today with all its constituents ending in green.

Shares of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) gained in the range of 12-14%, while GAIL, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Indraprastha Gas surged 6-8%.

Reports state that, Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is planning to boost its oil exports to 10.6 million barrels per day (bpd) from May on lower domestic consumption.

Meanwhile, global oil refiners have cut their throughput because of the slump in demand for transportation fuel, with European refineries slashing output by at least 1.3 million bpd.

Note that, crude oil prices had crashed earlier this month in what was the worst price dip since the 1991 Gulf War with Brent prices plunging to US$ 31 per barrel.

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.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, the finance ministry has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to ensure enough cash to meet the heightened demand across the country amid the 21-day lockdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Department of Financial Services (DFS) has instructed banks to keep adequate cash as well as ATMs functional to meet demand of people.

As per an article in The Economic Times, bank branches have been asked to remain open for facilitating withdrawal of money to be credited through direct benefit transfer to accounts of farmers, old-age person, widow and disabled under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

• Banks are expecting a huge number of footfalls due to expected disbursement in Jan Dhan accounts, women beneficiaries, pension accounts and PM Kisan beneficiaries, among others, in the days to come.

The DFS has written a letter to chief secretaries of all states to ensure easy movement of bank staff, RBI staff, staff of cash logistics companies, ATM maintenance personnel and cash vans, among others.

The department has also instructed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to take all necessary steps in coordination with banks and vendors to ensure that all digital payment modes are functional in an uninterrupted manner.

Last week on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had interacted via a conference call with heads of public and private sectors banks to ensure adequate liquidity at the branches and ATMs and at the banking correspondent level while maintaining social distancing.

We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space. Stay tuned.

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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