Equity Markets ends with modest losses; Sensex fell 244 points & Nifty close below 14,300

Domestic equity markets on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, closed with losses of around half a per cent. The headline indices declined amid the negative cues from global equity markets as the resurgence of the Coronavirus cases worldwide and fresh restriction to check its spread dented the sentiment of investors.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 243.62 points or 0.51 per cent to 47,705.80. The Nifty 50 index lost 63.05 points or 0.44 per cent and closed at 14,296.40. Nifty Bank fell 95.70 points or 0.31 per cent to 31,112.70.

The broader markets, however, supported the overall market breadth. The S&P BSE Midcap and SmallCap closed with gains of 0.49 per cent each.

Overall market breadth was tilted towards bulls. Total 1,654 stocks advanced on the BSE as against 1,228 stocks that declined. On the Nifty 50 index, 23 shares advanced and 27 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Dr Reddy's (up 3.56 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (up 3.48 per cent), HDFC Life (up 3.01 per cent), Bajaj Finance (up 2.62 per cent), Tata Consumers (up 2.09 per cent). The top five losers were UltraTech Cement (down 4.93 per cent), HCL Technologies (down 3.39 per cent), HDFC (down 3.34 per cent), Grasim (down 3.15 per cent) and Shree Cement (2.75 per cent).

The domestic equity market will remain shut on Wednesday on account of Ram Navami.

COVID-19 update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 14,21,12,632 with 30,30,299 deaths. India reported 20,31,977 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,80,530 deaths while 1,31,08,582 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Chinese Economic Data

China kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged. On the economic data front, China kept its benchmark lending rate for corporate and household loans steady for the 12th straight month at its April fixing on Tuesday, matching market expectations. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was kept at 3.85 per cent. The five-year LPR remained at 4.65 per cent.

Fall in the unemployment rate in Britain

Britain's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.9 per cent in the three months to February, a period the country spent mostly under a tight COVID lockdown, official figures showed on Tuesday. Most economists had forecast that the unemployment rate - which has been held down by the government's huge jobs subsidies plan - would edge up to 5.1 per cent from 5.0 per cent in the three months to January. The ONS said the fall in the unemployment rate was linked to a rise in the share of people who were out of the jobs market altogether.