A cheerful opening on cards!

After a dismal close in the last trading session, Tuesday morning provides fresh hopes for the bulls. Two key factors which resulted into the shift of mood on D-Street is flattening of Coronavirus infection rate curve in Italy as well as China’s surprising manufacturing PMI, which jumped to 52 from its all-time low, registered in the last month. However, despite these positive catalysts, the domestic markets may remain a bit cautious as on domestic front, news on Coronavirus remains grim. India registered the highest single-day increase of Coronavirus infected cases on Monday. SGX Nifty is up by almost 190 points at 8,480 mark.  

Asian markets are trading in green on Tuesday, following strong leads from Wall Street and sentiments were further lifted after China’s official manufacturing PMI in March was 52, back from an all-time low of February. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up by one per cent; Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.72 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.67 per cent.  

Back home, sell-off resumed in the markets as Coronavirus cases in India continued to rise despite the nationwide lockdown. BSE Sensex lost 4.61 per cent to close at 28,440 and Nifty dropped 4.38 per cent to close at 8,281 level. In the broader market, Nifty Mid-cap and Small-Cap slipped 2.79 and 2.31 per cent, respectively. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty Pharma and FMCG, all the indices ended in red. Nifty Realty and Nifty Financial Services were the top losers. 

In overnight developments, stocks in US kicked off the week with an aggressive rally amid flattening of Coronavirus infection rate curve in Italy. Further, two health companies give a new hope in the race to combat Coronavirus, with Johnson & Johnson announcing a potential vaccine that could be available early next year and Abbott Laboratories launching a rapid test. European indices too ended Monday’s session in green.