Stock Market Highlights: Sensex, Nifty end with gains led by IT stocks, RIL; HDFC twins top laggards

Here are the key highlights from today's trading session:

1. Sensex & Nifty close with minor gains while midcap and Nifty Bank end lower

2. 4 of top-5 Nifty losers are financials; except 2, all Nifty Bank constituents in the red

3. Reliance Industries lifts Nifty by 50 points while HDFC twins and ICICI Bank drag by 53 points

4. Sensex gains 100 points to 36,694 and Nifty 35 points to 10,803

5. Nifty Bank slips 309 points to 22,089 and Midcap 36 points to 15,217

6. PSU Bank slips while IT gains the most amongst sectoral indices

7. Reliance Industries surges to record high after Qualcomm deal for Jio Platforms

8. Reliance Industries’ market capitalisation at over Rs 12 lakh crore; adds Rs 1 lakh crore in last 16 sessions

9. IT stocks higher ahead of earnings this week; Tech Mahindra up 5.5%, HCL Technologies up 4%

10. Bharti Airtel higher while Vodafone Idea slips after TRAI blocks premium plans

11. Yes Bank falls 14% as investors likely to have sold shares ahead of FPO

12. Market breadth favours declines; advance-decline ratio at 2:3

Closing Bell: Market ends higher led by IT, metal names; HDFC  twins top laggards

Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty ended the day with gains due to the IT stocks and Reliance Industries. RIL's shares ended 3.23 percent higher to Rs 1,938.70 on the NSE.

At close, Sensex ended 99 points higher to 36,694 while the Nifty50 index ended at 10,803, up 35 points. Broader markets remained flat, with Nifty Midcap ending 0.2 percent lower while the smallcap index ended little changed.

Nifty IT was the best-performing index of the day, ending 1.71 percent higher followed by Nifty Metal and FMCG. Nifty Bank and Nifty Realty indexes ended nearly 1.5 percent lower today.

Tech Mahindra, Hindalco, HCL Technologies, JSW Steel and Reliance Industries were the Nifty50 top gainers while Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, HDFC  Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank remained the index top losers. 

Fund house head's tip for aspiring 'Robinhoods': Beware of low quality stocks

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Nilesh Shah of Kotak Mahindra AMC said that first-time investors need to be very cautious while investing low quality stocks.

Shah said that rally in the market over the last few months has been quite broad-based, but the rally in Z group shares--considered as risky because of poor fundamentals as well as compliance issues--has been the sharpest.

He said it was encouraging to see many first time investors sign up for systemic investment plans with mutual funds, and with online brokerages for trading through the internet. At the same time, Shah said that many of them seemed to be in it for some quick profits. Continue reading here!

Yes Bank FPO | Prashant Kumar Of Yes Bank tells CNBC-TV18 News that there has been good response from across investor segments like FIIs.

Stock Update: IRCTC's shares rose as much as 3 percent to Rs 1,444 per share on the NSE. The company's net profit for the quarter ended March surged 79 percent year-on-year (YoY). Revenue from catering segment fell 20 percent YoY but internet ticketing revenue tripled as compared to the past year. The company's board also declared a dividend of Rs 2.5 per equity share. 

Breaking News: Google announces Rs 75,000-crore fund to drive digitisation in India

Technology giant Google will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10 billion, into India over the next 5-7 years through its just-announced India Digitization Fund, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said.

"We’ll do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments," Pichai said.

The investments will focus on four areas important to India’s digitization.  First, enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, whether it’s Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other. Second, building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs.

Third, empowering businesses as they continue or embark on their digital transformation and fourth, leveraging technology and AI for social good, in areas like health, education, and agriculture, he said.

Rupee Update: The Indian currency ended flat in today's session due to volatile equity markets. The rupee ended at 75.19 against the US dollar as compared to Friday's close of 75.20. Meanwhile, IT stocks traded in the green, with Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies as the Nifty50 top gainers.

Ruchit Jain of Angel Broking gives out two 'buy' trading calls

We have two 'buy' recommendations, one from the defensive space and other from healthcare sector, said Ruchit Jain from Angel Broking.

He said, “The FMCG space has been showing relative strength in this market, and hence could see some outperformance. Colgate-Palmolive after a consolidation has given signs of resumption from its primary uptrend. One can go long on Colgate-Palmolive from a trading perspective, with stop loss below Rs 1,388 and target of Rs 1,455.”

In case of healthcare space, he recommended Metropolis Healthcare. "We have seen many diagnostic stocks with up move and good volumes today. Metropolis is on the same track, and there is a breakout in the price as well. Irrespective of the market movement, we could see some good momentum in Metropolis. Therefore, one can buy it with a stop loss below Rs 1,495 with target price of around Rs 1,670," added Jain.

Global Market Update: European stocks traded higher Monday despite the backdrop of surging coronavirus cases in some parts of the world, and as investors approach earnings season, reported CNBC International.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.7 percent in early deals, with autos adding 2 percent  to lead gains as all sectors and major bourses entered positive territory. DAX and FTSE 100 traded over 1 percent higher each. While, CAC and FTSE MIB were trading 0.81 percent and 0. 47 percent higher respectively.

European markets were tracking their global counterparts higher despite the surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S. and beyond; Florida reported 15,299 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the highest single day total for any American state since the pandemic began.

Fitch assigns rating to Adani Ports & SEZ's proposed USD Notes:

Fitch Ratings has assigned Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited's (APSEZ, BBB-/Negative) proposed senior unsecured notes of up to $1.25 billion an expected rating of 'BBB-(EXP)' with a Negative Outlook. The proceeds will be used primarily for refinancing the debt of Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) upon the completion of APSEZ's acquisition of the company and for refinancing APSEZ's other debt, including early redemption of part of a US dollar bond due 2024. The final rating is contingent upon the receipt of final documents conforming to information already received, Fitch said.

BSE signs pact with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing and boost the startup ecosystem

BSE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Alumni Council to encourage listing culture for startups and develop a ‘high investor depth’ startups platform. This alliance between BSE and IIT Alumni Council will ensure entity transparency, governance improvement, market discovery of share price, provide liquidity for PE investors and enable retail participation.

The newly-formed partnership will ensure a complete end to end ecosystem for the proposed social stock exchange and will also look at revitalising the Startup platform by attracting a wide range of VC/PE funds to act as underwriters and market makers (backed by the BSE members in the frontend). The alliance will help reduce listing time, complexity and cost for SMEs and Startups by streamlining, automating and standardising the documentation processes. Besides, category 1 merchant banks will be empaneled to help automate the listing process so as to reduce time and cost of listing on the Startup Platform of the Exchange.

Encouraged by clinical trials for Itolizumab, says Biocon’s Shaw

Speaking  to CNBC-TV18, Biocon head Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, said she was very encouraged by the clinical trials for Itolizumab--better known by its brand name ALZUMAb which has received approval from the Indian drug regulator for the treatment of COVID-19.

Shaw said many doctors have started using the drug and more than 150 people have recovered.

“This is a hospital-based treatment, it’s an infusion. It costs Rs 7,950 per vial – that’s the MRP cost and this is a treatment that has to be delivered in the hospital, it has to be carefully monitored,” she said, adding that the total treatment would cost around Rs 35,000. Click here to read more

Life Insurance in times of COVID-19: How to file claims, documents required and other questions answered

During this period, many life insurance companies are accepting claim intimations through email and WhatsApp. One can send claim documents via email to their respective insurers’ email address and seek any additional support.

It is advisable to intimate the claim at the earliest in the event of the policyholder’s demise. 

To enable faster and smoother claims processing, all documents should be consolidated before applying for a claim. All claims are examined and settled by life insurers on the basis of information present in documents submitted in connection to the claim. It is advisable to provide complete information. Read more here