Ending six-day losing streak, Sensex and Nifty gained over 3 per cent each on Monday, taking cues from their Asian peers. Index heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, Infosys, RIL and TCS were among the major contributors in today’s trade. “The overall global equity markets will continue to have an eye on further development on the issue of Coronavirus where if we get any signs of relief then the market is due for a pullback. It is difficult to predict the extent and impact of Coronavirus, therefore, it is becoming a black swan event for the market and the market doesn’t like uncertainty,” Santosh Meena, Senior Analyst, TradingBells said.

Key factors from today’s trade-

27 Sensex stocks in green- As many as 27 stocks out of 30 Sensex stocks were trading in green today. ICICI Bank was the top gainer on the index, up 4.22 per cent, followed by HCL Tech, Infosys, Nestle India and TCS. However, Bajaj-Auto, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tech Mahindra were the only laggards on the Sensex.

Nifty IT index top gainer- All the sectoral indices were trading in green today. The Nifty IT index was the top gainer with a growth of 2.54 per cent driven by Tata Elxsi, HCL Tech, NIIT Tech and Infosys. Similarly, the Nifty Pharma index was also trading higher led by gains in Piramal Enterprises, Auro Pharma and Cipla.

Investors gain Rs 2 lakh crore- Investors gain nearly 2 lakh crore in the domestic markets today. The market capitalisation of S&P BSE Sensex jumped 2 lakh crore to Rs 148.7 lakh crore from Rs 146.8 lakh crore in the previous session.

SBI Cards and Payment Services IPO opens- SBI Cards intitial public offering has opened for subscription today, the bidding process will close on March 5. It is set to become the fourth-largest PSU IPO in India after Coal India, General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) and ONGC. The lot size has been decided at 19 equity shares and in multiples thereafter.

Global markets- Asian shares steadied from early losses on Monday. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4 per cent, E-minis for the S&P500 were last up 0.3% while Japan’s Nikkei climbed 0.4%.

India February Manufacturing PMI at 54.5 in February- India February Manufacturing PMI stood at 54.5 versus 55.3 in January on month on month basis. India’s factory activity growth slowed in February from the previous month’s eight-year high due to a modest weakening in demand and output, although overall conditions remained firm, a private survey showed on Monday, as per Reuters news report.

FII and DII data- Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,428.74 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 7,621.16 crore on a net basis on Friday, as per the data available with NSE.

Coronavirus death toll rises- The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen to 34, five more than a day earlier, officials said on Sunday, as the government prepared to boost spending to help the fragile economy. The head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said the cumulative number of confirmed cases of the virus had jumped to 1,694 from 1,128 on Saturday, virtually all of them coming to light since Feb. 20 in the worst such contagion in Europe, as per the Reuters.