Share Market Update: Sensex ends 61 points higher, Nifty at 11,269; YES Bank climbs 26%

Share Market Update: Snapping bearish trend, Sensex and Nifty closed on a bullish note on Thursday, tracking positive market sentiments from overseas on growing signs of a coordinated response to the rising number of COVID-19 infections worldwide. Backed by heavy buying pressure in pharma stokcs,  BSE 30-share S&P Sensex closed 61 points higher at 38,470 and Nifty50 ended 18 points higher at 11,269. Domestic equity market opened higher, following global equities over speculation that BoE will follow the US Fed with an emergency interest-rate cut, while South Korea said its seeking a $9.8 billion extra budget to help businesses. IMF has also announced stimulus worth $50bn. Although market erased initial gains after one fresh case of coronavirus infected was reported in the country. With this, around 30 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in India, including 16 Italian tourists.

Here's a look at the live updates of the market action on BSE and NSE today:

Closing Bell

4:00PM

Snapping bearish trend, Sensex and Nifty closed on a bullish note on Thursday, tracking positive market sentiments from overseas on growing signs of a coordinated response to the rising number of COVID-19 infections worldwide. Backed by heavy buying pressure in pharma stokcs,  BSE 30-share S&P Sensex closed 61 points higher at 38,470 and Nifty50 ended 18 points higher at 11,269.

Domestic market traded bullish although erased initial gains after one fresh case of coronavirus infected was reported in the country. With this, around 30 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in India, including 16 Italian tourists.

Pharma stocks top gainers today

12: 40 PM

Barring shares of Piramal Enterprises that fell around 0.3%, all the 9 other healthcare shares were trading higher on Nifty Pharma, that was up 0.78% at 8,200.

On Nifty Pharma, Cadila Healthcare was the top gainer, rising 4.7%, followed by 2% gain in Divi's Laboratories. Biocon gained 1.68%, while Dr Reddy and Sun Pharma were up 1%. Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals gained in the range of 0.2% to 0.8%.

Shares of Divi's Laboratories, Biocon and Dr Reddy Labs were closing near their respective 52-week highs on NSE today.

On a similar note, S&P BSE Healthcare traded at 14,194, rising 0.81%, with 20 of 30 scrips trading in the green. On the BSE sector index, IOL Chemical and Shilpa Medicare rose over 5% each, followed by 4-5% gains in Cadila, Marksans Pharma and Panacea Biotec. Albert David, Laurus Labs, and Granules India gained around 3% each.

Pharma stocks shine amid rising Coronavirus cases in India

YES Bank share price rises 27%

12:00 PM

YES Bank share price rose in early trade today amid a report the government has asked State Bank of India (SBI) to form consortium for buying stake in the private sector lender. Share price of YES Bank rose 27% to Rs 37.90 compared to its previous close of Rs 29.30 on BSE.

Rupee today

11: 30  AM

The Indian rupee continued its downward journey on Thursday, sliding another 5 paise to trade at 73.44 against the US dollar amid mounting fears of a coronavirus-led economic slowdown.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit started the session on positive note but soon nervousness surrounding coronavirus gripped the forex market sentiment, pulling the rupee down to 73.44 against the previous day's close of 73.39 a dollar.

Market Update

11:00 AM

According to traders, investors were hopeful that the collective efforts of global governments and central banks would cushion the economic fallout of coronavirus.

Top gainers/ losers

10: 30 AM

HUL, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Nestle India, TCS and Asian Paints were among the top gainers, while ICICI Bank, L&T, PowerGrid, NTPC and Reliance Industries were trading in the red.

Virus will correct the Valuations: Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO, SAMCO Securities

10: 15AM

Commenting on the weak market trend due to coronavirus in the recent weeks, Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO, SAMCO Securities & StockNote has suggested,"Markets would broadly be driven by the virus and global sentiment. While it is impossible as well as futile to predict the pangs of the market, it is wise to rely on the wisdom of Sir John Templeton during this bloodbath: 'The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to Buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to Sell.' Hence, investors should cherry pick quality stocks in a staggered manner as every dip seems to be a good buying opportunity."

FII/ DII on Wednesday

10: 10 AM

 On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 878.38 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 764.13 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Oil today

9: 50 AM

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday gaining back from yesterday's low as rise in crude inventories was smaller than expected. Brent Crude traded at $51.86 per barrel, up 1.43%.

Global market cues

9: 40 AM

Asian stocks extended a global equity rally tracking overnight gains seen in DOW Jones and after IMF announced $50bln aid package to combat coronavirus. US markets rallied yesterday as investors cheered and gave thumps up to Joe Biden's popularity in U.S. Presidential primaries. Further, emergency US spending bill of $8bn to combat the impact of the corona-virus added to signs of support from policy makers around the world.

SGX Nifty traded flat with negative bias at 11,235, down 0.11%. US Futures (Dow Jones) traded at 26808, down 157 points or 0.58%.

European markets closed higher after US Fed cut interest rates in a surprise move which stirred hopes of a similar move from other central banks.

Rupee opens lower

9: 35 AM

Rupee opened lower on Thursday at 73.37 per US dollar compared to Wednesday's close of 73.20.

Pharma stocks top gainers

9: 35 AM

Shares of pharmacuetical companies such as Cipla, Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy were trading as top gainers on NSE on Thursday's trading session, tracking gains from the overseas trend, amid the virus scare that has infected over 94,240 people globally and caused 3,220 fatalities worldwide.

Coronavirus Update

9: 30 AM

India Inc has pulled up all its defences. Multiple companies have asked its employees to work from home, while many have issued travel restrictions. A Paytm employee who had travelled from Italy has been detected with COVID-19. The company has asked the team members of the employee to get themselves tested.

Meanwhile, the state governments are also pulling up their socks to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the country. Around 29 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in India, including 16 Italian tourists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also said that he would not be participating in the Holi Milan festivities this year. Following his announcement, a bunch of ministers said that they too would refrain from participating in the events.

Coronavirus outbreak LIVE updates: Benjamin Netanyahu asks Israelis to adopt 'namaste' as greeting

Opening Bell

9: 20 AM

Equity market indices Sensex and Nifty reversed trend and traded 0.55% higher on Thursday, tracking positive market sentiments from overseas, on growing signs of a coordinated response to the rising number of COVID-19 infections worlwide. Backed by heavy buying pressure in pharma stokcs, BSE 30-share S&P Sensex traded 184 points higher at 38,604 and Nifty50 rose 55 points higher at 11,305.

Global cues

9: 10 AM

Domestic equity market opened higher, following global equities over speculation that BoE will follow the US Fed with an emergency interest-rate cut, while South Korea said its seeking a $9.8 billion extra budget to help businesses. IMF has also announced stimulus worth $50bn.

Central banks all over the world, including Reserve Bank of India have indicated possible rate cuts due to the economic fallout of COVID-19. Cases of coronavirus is reportedly rising much more rapidly outside China than within the country.

The World Bank on Tuesday aslo announced an initial $12 billion in immediate funds to assist countries grappling with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak that has spread quickly from China to over 60 countries.

Stocks to watch today on March 5

9: 00 AM

Maruti Suzuki, Allcargo Logistics, Bank of Baroda, GMR Infra among others are the top stocks to watch out for in Thursday's trading session

Stocks in news: Maruti Suzuki, Allcargo Logistics, Bank of Baroda, GMR Infra and more

Last Close

8: 45 AM

Equity market resumed selling streak and closed 0.55% on Wednesday, as market sentiments turned negative upon rising number of COVID-19 infections in the country. Backed by heavy selling pressure in media, metal and banking stocks, BSE 30-share S&P Sensex closed 214 points lower at 38,409 and Nifty50 ended 49 points lower at 11,254. Domestic equity market opened higher, although gave up initial gains following reports that suggested 15 Italian nationals who came from Jaipur were tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total infected number of cases to 28.