Domestic stock markets started Tuesday’s session on a positive note tracking gains across Asian equities, a day after official data showed the country’s GDP or gross domestic product contracted 23.9 per cent in the quarter ended June 30. The S&P BSE Sensex index climbed up 263.86 points – or 0.68 per cent – to 38,892.15 amid choppy trade in early deals, having started the session up 125.71 points – or 0.33 per cent – at 38,754.00. The broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark crossed the 11,450 mark, a day after falling more than 2 per cent to settle at 11,387.50.
At 9:23 am, the Sensex traded 193.96 points – or 0.50 per cent – higher at 38,822.25 while the Nifty was up 66.45 points – or 0.58 per cent – at 11,453.95.
Hindalco, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Infratel, JSW Steel and Tata Steel, trading between 2.26 per cent and 4.05 per cent higher, jumped the most among the 38 gainers in the 50-scrip Nifty basket.
On the other hand, ONGC, GAIL, ITC, Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum, down between 0.60 per cent and 3.36 per cent each, were the top Nifty losers.
HDFC Bank, HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest boosts to Sensex, together accounting for a gain of more than 150 points in the index.
Data released after market hours on Monday showed the country’s GDP shrank by a record 23.9 per cent in April-June from a year earlier, much worse than forecasts and pointing to a longer than previously expected recovery with analysts calling for further stimulus.
Consumer spending, private investments and exports all collapsed during the world’s strictest lockdown imposed in late March to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and India now looks to be headed for its first full-year contraction since 1980.
Share markets elsewhere in Asia moved higher though caution prevailed amid increasing COVID-19 cases around the globe. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was last seen trading 0.71 per cent higher, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark was down 0.21 per cent.
