Mumbai: Indian equity markets posted decent recoveries Thursday as sentiment improved on promising early results from a COVID-19 drug trial.
Besides, the global rally and reports of additional measures by Union government to handhold the economy soothed investors as bulls came back to the stock market.
While BSE closed at 33717 – up 997 points (3.05 per cent), NIFTY closed at 9859 – up 306 points (3.21 per cent). Both the major indexes were on course for their fourth straight session of gains in a holiday-shortened week.
Both Sensex and NIFTY are also set to close the month about 14 per cent higher. Similar gains were last seen in May 2009, rebounding from a near 23 per cent slump in March as the COVID-19 hammered markets.
Meanwhile, the global markets including Wall Street and Asian stock markets also rallied after early results from US-listed Gilead’s drug trial of remdesivir showed positive results Wednesday.
Remdesivir helped speed up recovery from COVID-19 by 50 per cent, US researchers claimed.
Meanwhile, financial analysts suggested that unless the drug test shows potential down the line and the economy actually opens up, it will be difficult to sustain the rally.
Another reason behind the rally could be attributed to short covering.
“The spike could also be an expiry trade since there were a lot of shorts in this expiry and they are getting covered in the last couple of days,” said an analyst.
It may be mentioned here that India is expected to end its strict coronavirus lockdown May 3. However, rising cases and deaths coupled with demands of further lockdown extension from several state governments have made the choice tough for the Central government.
(PNN & Agencies)
