Covid-19 crisis: Investors gain Rs 3 lakh crore on hopes of stimulus package from RBI

Investors gained over Rs 3 lakh crore within minutes of opening today as Sensex rallied on hopes RBI would announce another round of stimulus package to minimise the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will address the media at 10:00 am today. A rally in Asian and US markets also pushed the Indian benchmark indices higher.

Market capitalisation on BSE rose to Rs 124.04 lakh crore in early trade compared to the previous session's market cap of Rs 120.67 lakh crore . That led the market cap to rise by Rs 3.37 lakh crore.

Sensex rose 1,028 points to 31,632 against the previous close of 30,602. Nifty too gained 289 points to 9,282 in early trade.

Of 30 Sensex  stocks, Nestle India, HUL and Sun Pharma were the only losers in early trade.

Share Market LIVE: Sensex opens 950 points higher, Nifty at 9,270; banking stocks outperform

TCS (7%), Axis Bank (8%) and ICICI Bank (6%) were the top Sensex gainers. On Nifty, TCS (7%), Axis Bank (8%) and PowerGrid (5.23%) gained the most.

Bharti Infratel, Nestle India, HUL and Britannia were the top losers on Nifty.

Market breadth was positive with 1,402 stocks rising against 226 falling on BSE.

Asian markets rose as China reported economic data that was better than expected.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.6% to 19,788.35 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong advanced 2.5% to 24,598.37. The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9% to 2,846.27, while Australia's S&P ASX 200 rose 2.4% to 5,547.80. South Korea's Kospi surged 3.5% to 1,921.71 despite the release of data showing the country lost 195,000 jobs in March from a year earlier, ending a decade-long run in payroll gains

Overnight, The S&P 500 rose 16.19 points to 2,799.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 23,537.68, the Nasdaq jumped 1.7% to 8,532.36 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks slumped 0.5% to 1,178.09.

By Aseem Thapliyal