Sensex, Nifty jump in trade in highly volatile market; key factors keeping investors on edge

Amid high volatility in Indian stock markets, headline indices Sensex and Nifty were trading higher in Friday’s trade. In the opening deals, the 30-share index Sensex jumped 573 points to trade at day’s high of 28,861, while the broader Nifty 50 index gained 173 points to rule at 8441 points. In the previous session, equity benchmarks slipped to hit a fresh three-year low levels. “The pace of decline is steeper if we compare it to the initial 2008 fall, probably due to an unexpected event of coronavirus unfolding while the global economies were already reeling under pressure,” Ajit Mishra,VP – Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Sensex, Nifty rise in trade- S&P BSE Sensex was trading 277 points or0.98 per cent higher at 28,540, while the broader Nifty 50 index was ruling at 8,342, up 80 points or 0.95 per cent.

Top gainers and losers on S&P BSE Sensex- As many as 20 stocks out of 30 Sensex stocks were trading higher. ONGC, ITC up over 6 per cent each, were top Sensex gainers followed by Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech. While IndusInd Bank was top Sensex laggard, down 7.5 percent. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Titan were among other losers on Sensex.

Nifty IT index top sectoral gainer– Most of the sectoral indices were trading in green. Nifty Realty index was top sectoral loser, down 2.72 per cent, followed by Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services. While Nifty IT index was top gainer driven by NIITTech, Infosys and Tech Mahindra.

Fitch cuts India’s growth forecast- Fitch Ratings on Friday cut India’s growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for FY 2020-21, saying the coronavirus outbreak is likely to hit business investment and exports. Fitch had in December 2019 projected India’s growth at 5.6 per cent for 2020-21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year, PTI reported.

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in India- There are as many as 195 coronavirus cases reported in India. 32 out of those infected are foreign nationals while the rest of them are Indians. Yesterday, PM Modi announced to set up the ‘Covid-19 economic response task force’ under the leadership of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to minimise the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.