Equity Market ended with significant losses; Sensex tumbles 883 points & Nifty 50 closed below 14,400

The Sensex and the Nifty on Monday, April 19, 2021, plunged around 1.80 per cent amid a resurgence of Coronavirus cases in the country. The domestic stocks declined even as the cues from global equity markets were positive.

The Sensex at Bombay Stock Exchange closed below 48,000 mark while the Nifty at National Stock ended below 14,400 level. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 882.61 points or 1.81 per cent and closed at 47,949.42. The Nifty 50 fell 258.40 points or 1.77 per cent to 14,359.45. Nifty Bank tumbled 760.05 points or 2.40 per cent to 31,208.40.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closed with a fall of 1.93 per cent and 1.64 per cent, respectively.

On the BSE, 776 shares rose and 2194 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 index, five shares advanced and 45 shares plunged. Five gainers on Nifty were Dr Reddy (up 2.28 per cent), Cipla (up 1.27 per cent), Britannia (up 0.91 per cent), Infosys (up 0.68 per cent) and Wipro (up 0.49 per cent). The top five losers were Adani Ports (down 4.83 per cent), Power Grid (down 4.12 per cent), ONGC (down 3.91 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (down 3.69 per cent) and IndusInd Bank (down 3.63 per cent).

Macrotech Developers closed at 457.95, at a discount of 6.12% over the IPO price of Rs 486 at NSE.

COVID-19 Update

Total Covid-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 14,14,14,180 with 30,19,660 deaths. India reported 19,29,329 active cases of Covid-19 infection and 1,78,769 deaths while 1,29,53,821 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is interacting with leading doctors from across the country and is discussing the COVID-19 situation. Later at 6 PM, he will also hold a meeting with top pharma companies in the country to review the status of production and supply of crucial medicines.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Modi chaired an important meeting on the COVID related situation in the country. The third consecutive meeting by the Prime Minister in as many days was attended by senior officials of the Health Ministry along with officials from other departments. Mr. Modi reviewed the COVID & Vaccination situation in the country in a meeting that was held on Saturday. He also took stock of the situation of vaccination and covid pandemic in his Parliamentary constituency Varanasi through a virtual meeting yesterday.

India's Foreign Exchange Reserves

According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, India's foreign exchange reserves rose $4.344 billion to $581.213 billion during the week ended April 9, 2021, from $576.869 billion reported for the week ended April 2, 2021. Similarly, the value of the country's gold reserves rose from $1.297 billion to $35.320 billion.

Japan's Export

Japan's exports posted their strongest growth in more than three years in March. Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday exports surged 16.1% in March from a year earlier. The University of Michigan said on Friday its preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to a one-year high of 86.5 in the first half of this month from 84.9 in March.