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Sensex, Nifty Up 2% As Markets Trim Early Gains On Economic Package: 10 Points
13 May 2020, 10:52 AM IST 
Gains across most sectors barring IT pushed the markets higher
- The markets, however, gave up more than half of early intraday gains in the first hour of trade. At 10:23 am, the Sensex traded up 676.93 points - or 2.16 per cent - at 32,048.05 while the Nifty was at 9,391.50, up 194.95 points (2.12 per cent) compared to the previous close. Gains across most sectors barring IT pushed the markets higher, led by strong buying interest in financial and automobile stocks.
- In the Nifty basket of 50 shares, 46 stocks traded higher at the time. Top percentage gainers were ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Shree Cement, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance, trading higher between 4.36 per cent and 6.37 per cent each.
- HDFC Bank (up 4.48 per cent), ICICI Bank (6.38 per cent) and HDFC (2.56 per cent) together contributed more than 350 points to the gain in Sensex.
- In his address to the nation late on Tuesday, the Prime Minister said the package was equivalent to 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product, and was aimed at the multitudes out of work and businesses reeling under the prolonged shutdown.
- Details of the new package, and reforms of land and labour markets, will be announced by the Finance Minister within days, PM Modi said.
- In March, the government had announced around Rs 1.7 lakh crore in direct cash transfers and food security measures for the poor. PM Modi also said strict stay-at-home orders will be extended beyond May 17 with a new set of rules.
- "Details of the economic package announced by the government are yet to be seen... People want to see the details," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told NDTV. "The futures jumped sharply on Tuesday as the announcement came about... It is a classic case of 'buy on rumour and sell on news'."
- Equities elsewhere in Asia were listless following losses in the US markets, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.06 per cent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei 225, China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices were down 0.77 per cent, 0.21 per cent and 0.16 per cent at the time respectively.
- Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 benchmark index shed 2.05 per cent, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite indices fell 1.89 per cent and 2.06 per cent respectively. The E-Mini S&P 500 futures were last seen down 0.10 per cent in morning, indicating a weak start for Wall Street on Wednesday.
- On Tuesday, the Sensex had ended 190.10 points - or 0.60 per cent - lower at 31,371.12 and the Nifty settled at 9,196.55, down 42.65 points - or 0.46 per cent - compared to the previous close, as the markets extended losses to a second straight day.
