Sensex up 61 points; Yes Bank zooms 26%

MUMBAI: Worries over economic slowdown owing to Coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on the investor sentiment on Thursday as equities once failed to retain early gains and ended flat.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 38,471, up 61 points or 0.16 percent. TCS, HUL, Bharti Airtel and HCL Tech were the major contributors to the index’s gains. During the day, the index hit a high and low of 38,887.80 and 38,386.68, respectively.

NSE’s Nifty 50 ended at 11,269, up 18 points or 0.16 percent.

Yes, Bank had a field day today as the stock ended 26 percent higher at Rs 36.85 apiece on the BSE after news reports suggested the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to lead a consortium that will buy a stake in YES Bank. SBI, on the other hand, ended over 1 percent higher at Rs 288.3 apiece.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 0.3 percent higher at 14,571 levels while the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 0.29 percent to settle at 13,591 levels.

On the sectoral front, PSU banks and FMCG stocks made decent gains while realty, metal. and media counters suffered losses. Nifty PSU Bank index added 1.39 percent to 1,892 levels while Nifty FMCG ended at 29,530.50, up 1 percent.

Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Thursday as US markets swung sharply higher and another dose of central bank stimulus offered some salve for the global economic outlook. Asian markets followed, if more cautiously. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 percent, in its fourth day of gains. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.9 percent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 percent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 percent. (Agencies)

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