1. Financials lead market gains with Nifty Bank surging more than 7 percent

2. All Nifty Bank constituents higher; ICICI, HDFC Bank & Axis Bank top gainers 

3. ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries & HDFC Bank contribute over 50% to Nifty’s gains

4. Nifty gains 274 Points to 9,267 and Sensex 986 Points to 31,589

5. Nifty Bank advances 1,281 Points to 20,681 and Midcap 286 Points to 13,047

6. 38 Nifty stocks close higher; Axis Bank, Eicher Motors, ICICI Bank top gainers

7. FMCG and Pharma indices close lower; Nestle, HUL, Sun Pharma major losers

8. Volatility Index, India VIX slips 8% to end at a one-month closing high

9. TCS closes with a gain of 5 percent on positive management commentary

Weekly Performance Update:

1. Market gains for the 2nd consecutive week; Nifty and Sensex up 2 percent each

2. Nifty Bank and Midcap Index gain 4 percent each this week

3. Metal Index gains the most amongst indices this week, up 7 percent

4. IndusInd Bank, Hindalco, L&T, UPL and Axis Bank top gainers this week

5. Bajaj Finance, Hero MotoCorp, Kotak Bank top index losers this week

TLTRO seems positive for two primary sectors- auto ancillary and housing finance companies, said SP Tulsian.

Coming to housing finance companies, HDFC Limited continues to remain in the lead, in terms of investment. We also have our focus on pure HFCs like LIC Housing Finance, CanFin Homes, GIC Housing Finance, Repco Home Finance and PNB Housing Finance. These 4-5 stock seems good for investment, added Tulsian. 

The Reserve Bank today announced a second Targeted Long Term Repo Operation of Rs 50,000 crores to start with, to ensure funds for NBFCs and microfinance institutions that were unable to get liqudity in the first round of TLTRO so far. The TLTRO amount may be increased as per requirements later.

“RBI`s announcement to infuse liquidity into the system is extremely welcoming and a big relief to NBFC borrowers. The decision to cut the reverse repo rate by 25 bps will encourage banks to look for lending opportunities. We would appreciate if banks reciprocate positively to NBFCs  request on moratorium to manage cash flow smoothly. All in all we think it is a positive step taken by the RBI  to overcome the challenges faced by the economy", said Umesh Revankar, MD & CEO of Shriram Transport Finance.

Indian Rupee ended higher on Friday at 76.39 against the US dollar as compared to Thursday's close of 76.86, after Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das announced measures to ensure adequate liquidity in the system to ease the financial stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Forex traders said positive domestic equities and weakening of the American currency in the overseas also supported the rupee.

S&P Global Ratings has revised the rating outlooks on Axis Bank and ICICI Bank to Negative from Stable due to heightened economic risks facing India's banking system that may affect the creditworthiness of these banks.

“In our base case, other private-sector peers such as HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have stronger asset quality and would be able to withstand the weakness in operating conditions,” S&P Global said. READ MORE 

Graphite and carbon products manufacturer Graphite India was locked in an upper circuit of 5 percent at Rs 197 on the NSE. 

According to the company's press release, Graphite India announced resuming partial manufacturing operations at its graphite electrode plant in Satpur, Nashik, Maharashtra, engaging minimum labour.

The company also declared interim dividend payout of Rs 2 per share to all its shareholders. 

European Markets Update: European stocks opened sharply higher on Friday after a report that a drug developed by Gilead Sciences was showing effectiveness in treating the coronavirus. DAX, FTSE100 and CAC surged over 3 percent while the Stoxx600 jumped 2.6 percent in early trade.

Rupee Update: Indian rupee erases some gains but trading higher at 76.51 per dollar, after RBI governor announced measures to ensure adequate liquidity in the system to ease the financial stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das today said 'humanity was facing the trial of its time' even as he invoked Mahatma Gandhi by adding that 'in the midst of darkness, light prevails'.

Das' sudden press conference was to announce a series of fresh measures to help the economy recover from the coronavirus-induced lockdown shock, especially non-banking financial companies, farmers, real estate companies and small businesses. Continue reading here 

It's well understood currently that we have a stock market decline and a recession on our hands.

The only thing that's left to understand is whether the market has bottomed out. And while that may be difficult to predict, according to Elara Cap, there are some signs of a recovery.

In its recent report, Elara highlighted four signs that the market was on the mend even though it added that a full recovery may take as much as 6 months. To read more about this report, click here

The pharmaceutical giant Cadila Healthcare gained as much as 3 percent to Rs 333 after the company received its final approval from the US FDA to market Erlotinib tablets. 

The drug is used to stem the growth and spread of cancer cells in the body, said the press release. The drug will be manufactured at the company's formulation manufacturing facility at the SEZ in Ahmedabad.

The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das during his address to the media asked all scheduled commercial banks to not make any dividend payouts for the year ended March 2020 (financial year 2019-2020).

On this, Keki Mistry, CEO of HDFC said, "All RBI is asking is for the banks to conserve capital at this point in time by not making any dividend payouts. I think this is a short-term measure for the next 6 months and will be reviewed in September if normalcy returns in the banking system."

In my sense, it is only deferment of the dividends not cancellation, said Mistry.

Gold prices in India opened sharply lower on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Friday as investors opted profit booking after the prices touched all-time highs in previous sessions.

At 9:35 am, gold futures for June delivery fell by Rs 893 or 1.89 percent to Rs 46,365 per 10 grams as against the previous close of Rs 47,258 and opening price of Rs 46,700 on the MCX.

In global market, gold prices inched lower on Friday as Asian equities showed signs of a rebound, but fears of a steep global recession due to the coronavirus pandemic limited a drop in the metal's price, putting it on course for its second straight weekly gain.

Spot gold eased 0.1 percent to $1,716.56 per ounce by 0045 GMT. US gold futures slipped 0.1 percent to $1,730.30.

Market retreated from day's high after the Reserve Bank of India announced various measures to strengthen the economy. In a major move, the central bank cut the reverse repo rate by 25 bps to 3.75 percent from 4 percent earlier. The move has been taken to allow banks to lend more.

At 10:58 am, Sensex traded 600 points higher to 31,193 while the Nifty50 index rose 173 points to 9,167. Nifty Realty stood as the best-performing sector, up 5% led by the gains in Oberoi Realty and Sunteck Realty.

Bajaj Finserv and TCS remained the top gainers of the Nifty50 index.

The real estate company Oberoi Realty jumped as much as 15% to Rs 392 after it pre-paid non-convertible debentures (NCDs) before the scheduled date on April 23, 2020.

The company has pre-paid 125 listed NCDs worth Rs 125 crore, along with its interest payment. 

The stock has gained 28 percent in the last 3 trading sessions. Oberoi Realty remains the top contributor to the Nifty Realty's gains today.

RBI Governor says:

- India is expected to post sharp turnaround by growing at 7.4 percent in FY22 as per IMF
- In 2020 global economy is expected to plunge into greatest recession
- IMF estimates cumulative loss to global GDP in 2021, 2022 at $9 trillion
- India expected to cling on to 1.9 percent growth as estimated by IMF

Largest Indian software exporter TCS on Thursday said it will not retrench any of its nearly 4.5 lakh employees, but has decided not to give any salary hikes this year.

The Tata Group company said it will honour each of its commitments on new hires by taking all the 40,000 people who have been given offers on board, unlike some other blue-chip companies that are reportedly having a relook.

The company reported a healthy profit jump for the March quarter, but hinted at very difficult time in the first two quarters of the current fiscal due to COVID-19 crisis, including a revenue contraction. Click here to read more

Larsen & Toubro's shares gained as much as 3 percent after the company won significant orders worth upto Rs 2,500 crores.

The factories arm has won a design and build order from a leading cement player to execute and commission a 9,500 Tonnes Per Day cement plant in Madhya Pradesh.

The Residential arm has won an order from a reputed developer in Bengaluru to construct a residential complex with a total built up area of 5 million sq.ft., while the IT & Offices arm has secured an order from a key government organisation to construct its smart data centres at Hyderabad and Chennai with a total built up area of 2.68 lakh sq.ft.