Sensex Steady Near 31,800; Financials Rally, Pharma Stocks Under Pressure

Edited by Peter Noronha

28 Apr 2020, 12:40 PM IST

There is buying In financial stocks, but profit-booking on pharma counters is capping the gains

The benchmark indices are mildly in the positive on Tuesday afternoon, amid choppy trading, as the market participants seek further directional trends and developments surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. The S&P BSE Sensex index jumped as much as 1.33 per cent - or 421.57 points - to 32,164.65 in morning deals, having started the session up 358.83 points at 32,101.91. The broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark climbed to as high as 9,402.55 after starting the session at 9,389.80, compared with its previous close of 9,282.30.

At 12:10 pm, the Sensex traded 55.64 points - or 0.18 per cent - higher at 31,797.03 while the Nifty was up 12.35 points - or 0.12 per cent - at 9,293.60. There is buying In financial stocks, but profit-booking on pharma counters is capping the gains in the markets.

India VIX, the fear guage, has declined further by 3.9 per cent to 36.5, which indicates a decline of volatiliry in the near term. Analysts say investors are still in a cautious mode assessing the measures announced by policymakers to fight the economic fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Financial stocks are attracting buying interest in today's session. HDFC, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI have gained 0.8-3.4 per cent on the NSE. Bajaj Finance and M&M Finance have also gained around 2 per cent each.

Pharma stocks are witnessing profit-booking after the stellar gains in the past one month. Glenmark, Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma have lost 2.2-3.7 per cent each, on the NSE.

On the stock-specific front, IndusInd Bank shares touched after the upper circuit a day after the private sector lender reported its financial results for the January-March period. IndusInd Bank posted a 16.18 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 301.84 crore for the quarter ended March 31.

Axis Bank is quoting higher by 3.6 per cent at Rs 443 on news that it is set to acquire 29 per cent stake in Max Life Insurance Company from Max Financial Services Limited (MFSL), the flagship listed company of Max Group. Additionally, Axis Bank will report its earnings for the last quarter of financial year 2019-20 later in the day.