The key Indian equity indices rose on Monday morning with the BSE Sensex gaining over 500 points. It soared nearly 524 points to touch an intra-day high of 49,256.52 points. Healthy buying was witnessed in banking and finance stocks.
Around 10.20 a.m., Sensex was trading at 49,232.14, higher by 499.59 points or 1.03 per cent from its previous close of 48,732.55. It opened at 48,990.70 and has so far touched an intra-day low of 48,923.13 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 14,802.50, higher by 124.70 points or 0.85 per cent from its previous close. The top gainers on the Sensex were IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and State Bank of India, while Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro and Titan Company were the major losers.
Inflation touches 10.49%
India's annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices sequentially rose to 10.49 per cent in April from a rise of 7.39 per cent in March.
Significantly, this is the highest rate of WPI inlation in the last 6-months. The monthly rate of inflation, based on month over month movement of WPI index, in April 2021 stood at 1.86 per cent as compared to March 2021.
On a year-on-year basis, the inflation rate last month was higher. The WPI had come in about (-) 1.57 per cent in April of 2020. "In April, 2021 (over April, 2020), the annual rate of inflation (YoY), based on monthly WPI, stood at 10.49 per cent (Provisional)," the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement on WPI.
"The annual rate of inflation in April 2021 is high primarily because of rise in prices of crude petroleum, mineral oils viz petrol, diesel etc, and manufactured products as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year."
