Sensex, Nifty open in green; JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank major gainers

Mumbai: Equity indices on Thursday (March 5) opened on a positive note with the Sensex up 225.73 points or 0.59% at 38635.21, while the broader Nifty also up 70.60 points or 0.63% at 11321.60. Among major gainers on the indices were JSW Steel, Eicher Motors, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Sun Pharma, and Hero MotoCorp, while HDFC, Bharti Infratel, Power Grid, and Yes Bank were among major losers.

About 573 shares advanced, 169 shares declined, while 31 shares remain unchanged during the early trade. All the sectoral indices also are trading in the green with the Metal index up 2 per cent followed by energy, PSU bank, auto, and pharma. 

Meanwhile, Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session today as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook.

Wall Street seemed to find relief in the strong performance of former Vice President Biden in the Democratic nomination campaign. Biden is considered less likely to raise taxes and impose new regulations than rival Bernie Sanders.

The US House of Representatives also approved an $8.3 billion funding bill to combat the spread of the virus, sending the emergency legislation to the Senate. 

In another wild swing, the Dow surged 4.53%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.22% and the Nasdaq 3.85%.

Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7%, in its fourth day of gains.

Japan`s Nikkei rose 0.9% and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1%. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3%.

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 dipped 0.6% after its overnight jump, but EUROSTOXXX 50 futures rose 0.6% and FTSE futures 0.4%.

The upbeat sentiment comes despite the coronavirus crisis showing no signs of slowing, with mounting deaths globally, Italy closing all of its schools and California declaring a state of emergency as cases there grow.

The Federal Reserve and Bank of Canada had both responded by cutting interest rates by 50 basis points, and markets in the euro zone are pricing in a 90% chance that the ECB will cut its deposit rate, now minus 0.50%, by 10 basis points next week.

Yet, as policymakers grapple with the best strategy to avoid a global recession, some major central banks have been less keen to follow suit.

The dollar, however, stood at 107.34 yen, from a five-month trough of 106.84, while the dollar index held steady at 97.333.

Gold steadied after jumping in the wake of the Fed`s rate cut, and was last at $1,638.97 per ounce. Oil prices rebounded by more than 1% on a smaller-than-expected rise in crude oil inventories in the United States.

Brent crude futures firmed 68 cents to $51.81 a barrel, while US crude added 59 cents to $47.37.

(With Agency Inputs)