Indian equity markets staged a strong rebound on Friday, snapping a four-day losing streak to post their biggest one-day gain since 2009. However, the surge was not enough to prevent the indices from posting their worst weekly drop since October 2008.
BSE Sensex ended with gains 5.75 percent, the most since 18 May 2009. Out of the 30 constituents, 28 ended with gains. For the week, the index posted losses of 12.2 percent, the worst since October 2008.
Nifty ended at 8,745, higher by 5.83 percent, the most since 18 May 2009. Forty-six out of the 50 stocks ended with gains. For the week, the index was down 12.1 percent, the worst since October 2008.
All sectoral indices ended with gains.
Equity benchmark Sensex soared over 1,800 points in afternoon session on Friday, amid hopes of a stimulus package as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a financial task force to combat the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 30 paise to 74.81 against US dollar intra-day. The rupee had hit a record low of 75.31 on Thursday, 19 March.
ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying up to 15 percent, followed by TCS, Infosys, HUL, Ultratech Cement, Tech Mahindra and Asian Paints. IndusInd Bank was the only laggard.
(With inputs from PTI and BloombergQuint.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)