Market Opens On A Firm Note Even As Investors Remain Cautious About Economy

Banks remain the top gainers including IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank while Maruti Suzuki and ONGC were in the negative

New Delhi, April 15:  The markets opened on a positive note on Wednesday after observing a holiday on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti amid the announcement of lockdown extension by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sensex saw a jump of 587 points at 31,277.11. Nifty added over 200 points to open higher at 9,196.40. Investors remain cautious as they watch upon the economic implications of the lockdown being extended till May 3. Of 30 Sensex shares, 28 opened in the green. Banks remain the top gainers including IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank on the 30-share barometer while Maruti Suzuki and ONGC were in the negative. Benchmark equity indices were in the green in the pre-opening session on Wednesday. Around 9:01am Sensex was up 222 points or 0.72 per cent to 30,192. Nifty added 167 points or 1.86% to 9,161. Meanwhile, Asian stocks remain mixed in opening trade with South Korea's KOSPI gained 1.7 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.3 per cent and Shanghai Composite declined 0.44 per cent. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 558.99 points, or 2.39 per cent, to 23,949.76. The S&P 500 was up 84.43 points, or 3.06 per cent, to 2,846.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 323.32 points, or 3.95 per cent, to 8,515.74. Shares of US tech giants such as Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet closed noticeably higher, contributing to the market rally. Shares of Johnson & Johnson climbed 4.48 per cent after the drug and consumer health company reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase stock gave up earlier gains to end 2.74 percent lower. The US bank titan on Tuesday posted a big decline in first-quarter earnings from the coronavirus. There was a close watch on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projection on global economy. The global economy is on track to contract "sharply" by 3 per cent in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, much worse than during the 2008-09 financial crisis, according to IMF's World Economic Outlook. (With inputs from IANS)