Market Movers: PVR, ICICI Prudential Life surge; 27 stocks give buy signals

MUMBAI: Benchmark equity indices ended Tuesday’s session in the red after profit booking by traders in the last few hours of trade amid concerns over vaccine shortages and localized lockdowns.

Equities rose sharply earlier in the day after the government late Monday said that COVID—19 vaccines will now be administered to all adults from May 1 and allowed states to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers.

While the liberalized vaccine policy of the Center has eased some nerves on long-term growth recovery, investors still remain concerned that vaccine capacity may not be ramped up on time to slow the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in the country.

For the day, Nifty50 ended 0.4 per cent, or 63.1 points, lower at 14,296.4, while Sensex closed at 47,705.8, down 243.6 points or 0.5 per cent.

Here are the major movers in today’s session:


Dr Reddy’s soars on vaccine news
Shares of the drug maker rose nearly 4 per cent after the company said that it will sell the Sputnik V vaccine at around $10 per dose in the private market once it starts importing the jabs from May end. The government on Monday allowed states to procure vaccine directly from manufacturers as well as approved the sale of COVID jabs in the private market.

PVR surges on reopening hopes
Shares of the multiplex operator rose nearly 5 per cent on the hope that mass inoculation of the country’s adult population from May 1 will allow for faster re-opening of malls and multiplexes around the country.

ICICI Pru Life rises on CLSA’ upgrades
Shares of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance ended over 5 per cent higher after the company reported firm earnings for the quarter ended March and as brokerage firm CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets upgraded the stock to buy.

What gave buy signal?
As many as 27 stocks listed on the National Stock Exchange gave a buy signal based on MACD indicators. They included

, , ABB India, Whirlpool of India and Suven Pharmaceuticals.

What’s ahead for the market?
Traders sold both the out-of-money call and put options of Nifty50, suggesting that they expect the index to remain rangebound in the coming sessions. Traders also added short positions in the April contract of the index as Open Interest rose 5.7 per cent.

“We maintain our cautious stance for the markets in the near term as increasing restriction would adversely impact economic activities,” said Ajit Mishra, vice president of research at Religare Broking.