Sensex up by over 500 points; Bharat Electronics declines by more than 2 per cent

Bulls were in charge during the afternoon trading session as buying was witnessed in mainly IT, banking, cement, and auto stocks. As stocks rallied, Indian benchmark indices such as Sensex surged by 1.47 per cent or 558.22 points to close at 38,492.95 while Nifty rose by 1.52 per cent or 168.75 points to settle at 11,300.55.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) reported a weak set of numbers for Q1FY21 as execution was impacted during the quarter due to lockdowns. Revenue for the quarter was down by 21.1 per cent YoY to Rs 1,676 crore as compared to revenues of Rs 2,125 crore for Q1FY20.

Shares of Bharti Infratel dipped after the company reported a 21 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit for Q1FY21.

Stock markets in Asia increased on hopes of more stimulus by US aimed at minimizing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis since increased liquidity is a major growth driver for emerging economies currently. Shanghai index, Hang Seng and KOSPI rose by 0.71 per cent, 0.69 per cent and 1.76 per cent, respectively. In the European markets, FTSE100, Dax and CAC 40 were trading down by 0.073 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively.

Domestic currency ended flat at 74.83 per dollar in volatile trade amidst strong buying sentiments in the Indian markets.

In the Sensex basket, 25 stocks advanced while 5 stocks declined. Sensex gainers included UltraTech Cement soaring by 7.17 per cent, TCS gaining by 4.69 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank rising by 4.56 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra increasing by 4.44 per cent, Maruti Suzuki up by 4.06 per cent, IndusInd Bank gaining by 4.05 per cent, etc. Sensex draggers consisted of ICICI Bank dropping by 1.84 per cent, Nestle India declining by 1.41 per cent, Asian Paints falling by 1.02 per cent, ONGC dipping by 0.93 per cent and ITC decreasing by 0.41 per cent.

All BSE sectoral indices closed in green amongst which Auto index rallied by 3.26 per cent followed by IT index gaining by 2.54 per cent. BSE Oil & Gas index, on the other hand, increased the least with a mere 0.16 per cent. BSE small-cap index and BSE mid-cap index rose by 0.61 per cent and 0.76 per cent respectively.