Sensex Ends 484 Points Higher; Banking and IT Stocks Witness Huge Buying

Thu, 23 Apr 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.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 484 points (up 1.5%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 126 points (up 1.4%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.9%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 1.4%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the IT sector, banking sector, and finance sector.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 0.35% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.19%. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.52%.

European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.09%. The DAX was trading up by 0.02%, while the CAC 40 stood up 0.53%.

The rupee was trading at 76.15 against the US$.

Speaking of Indian share markets, the coronavirus impact has shaken markets worldwide. Indian stock markets have felt the full impact too.

For the BSE Sensex, FY20 was the second worst year post FY08, the year of the global financial crisis.

Good Time to Start Investing Now?

Naturally, there is an atmosphere of fear all round.

Is it time to sell stocks now? Will the correction get worse?

History has shown that after years like the one we had just now, the next 3 years are good for the markets. In fact, these corrections are the rare times when you find businesses with solid fundamentals at reasonable valuations.

If you can find good businesses that can survive the current crisis, you will do well in the long run.

Zee Entertainment share price was in focus today. The stock of the company witnessed huge buying interest on the back of a bulk deal.

As per the data, Florida Retirement System bought 51,09,188 shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises at Rs 141.29 a share.

This puts the deal of the size at Rs 721.8 million.

Florida Retirement System is a pension fund for the employees of the Florida state government in the USA.

Note that apart from Zee Entertainment, other media stocks have also seen a rise in demand in the last couple of days. TV18 Broadcast and Hathway Cable saw heavy buying on Wednesday ahead of their quarterly earnings.

Market participants were also tracking Network18 Media & Investments as the company reported a consolidated profit of Rs 590 million driven by strong operating EBITDA and revenue.

It had posted a loss of Rs 760 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

Revenue from operations for the quarter came in at Rs 14.6 billion, growing 18.68% compared to Rs 12.3 billion reported in the same period last year.

You can also read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: Wipro, TCS, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Tata Elxsi.

In news from the commodity space, crude oil futures rose to Rs 1,218 per barrel today as participants increased their long positions. In the futures market, crude oil for May delivery touched an intraday high and low of Rs 1,238 and Rs 960 per barrel on the MCX.

Prices rebounded after the record fall as some producers started to cut production to overcome the supply glut caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Gains were also seen as US President Donald Trump's tweet instructing US Navy "to shoot and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ship at sea" last night forced short sellers to cover their positions.

Note that crude oil prices fell to less than US$ 16 a barrel yesterday, hitting its lowest since 1999. Brent crude, which fell 24% in the previous session, touched US$ 15.98 a barrel yesterday, its lowest since June 1999.

A glut has been building since OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, failed to renew output cuts last month.

OPEC+ agreed new curbs this month, but government lockdowns to contain the pandemic have cut fuel demand more steeply.

Speaking of crude oil, in his latest video, Vijay Bhambwani shares his thoughts on the recent crude oil crash.

He talks about whether we should be celebrating lower crude prices, or should we be worried?

You can check the same here: Crude Oil Prices Have Crashed. What Does it Mean for India?

Also, Monday and Tuesday have been two of the most turbulent days in the history of oil trading, as investors confronted the reality that worldwide supply will overwhelm demand for months or years and current production cuts to offset that glut are nowhere near sufficient.

Tuesday set a new milestone as more than 2 million contracts for US crude for delivery in June changed hands, the busiest day in history.

US crude oil futures collapsed below US$ 0 earlier this week on Monday for the first time in history, amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut.

The futures ended the day at a stunning minus US$ 37.63 a barrel as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil.

Vijay has also recorded a video on this which you may access here.

Moving on to news from the macroeconomic space, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to conduct simultaneous purchase of government securities (G-Secs) maturing in 6-10 years and sale of securities (cash management bills, or CMBs, and treasury bills) maturing in the next couple months to a year for Rs 100 billion each under special Open Market Operations (OMO) on April 27.

The special OMO is probably aimed at correcting yields at the short- and long-end of the Government Security yield curve.

These long-term repo operations (LTROs) to purchase G-Secs of three-years tenor are being conducted by the RBI to inject durable liquidity into the banking system and ensure transmission of monetary policy changes. Under LTRO, banks get funds at the repo rate, which is currently at 4.40%.

Reportedly, on April 27, the RBI will purchase G-Secs maturing in 2026 (coupon: 7.59%); 2028 (7.17%); 2029 (7.26%); and 2030 (7.61%).

It will simultaneously sell two cash management bills (CMBs) maturing on June 16 (77-day CMB) and June 23, 2020 (84-day CMB); 182-day treasury bill (maturing on October 15, 2020) and 364-day treasury bill (maturing on April 15, 2021).

What effect this exercise has on the financial markets remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

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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