Indian equity benchmarks extended winning streak for fourth straight day and ended the Monday's trade with a gain of over half a percent amid fall in daily Covid-19 cases. Markets started the day with significant gains as traders remain encouraged after the Union Health Ministry said more than 72 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories, while over 46 lakh doses will be received by them within the next three days. Union Health Ministry also stated that India is the fastest country globally to administer 17 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses. China took 119 days while the US took 115 days for reaching the same landmark. The vaccination drive in India was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers getting inoculated and vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2. Subsequently, it was opened for different age groups. Market participants continued to buy risky assets amid reports that corporate India is stepping up to shoulder coronavirus-induced challenges by lending a helping hand through various initiatives like testing, vaccination camps, financial aid, medical help and resource access for COVID-19 care. Market traded in fine fettle throughout the day as investors took some support from Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that India is committed to concluding negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement and investment protection pact with European Union (EU) together at an early date. Adding more optimism, data of the commerce ministry showed continuing a positive growth, India's exports grew by 80 per cent to $7.04 billion during the first week of this month. Exports during May 1-7 last year stood at $3.91 billion and $6.48 billion in the same week of May 2019. Sentiments remained upbeat till end of the trade as Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) data showed that country's foreign exchange reserves swelled by $3.913 billion to reach $588.02 billion in the week ended April 30, 2021. In the previous week ended April 23, the reserves had risen by $1.701 billion to $584.107 billion. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 295.94 points or 0.60% to 49,502.41, while the CNX Nifty was up by 119.20 points or 0.80% to 14,942.35.

The US markets ended lower on Monday as investors dumped high-flying Big Tech stocks, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 off their record highs. Facebook dropped more than 4%, while Amazon and Netflix both dropped over 3%. Alphabet dipped more than 2% after a downgrade by Citigroup. Cathie Wood's Ark Innovation ETF fell 5% to its lowest level since November. Besides, concerns about the outlook for inflation have also weighed on the markets amid an increase in commodities prices. Semiconductor stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 4.7 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month. Brooks Automation, CMC Materials and Lattice Semiconductor turned in some of the sector's worst performances. Significant weakness also emerged among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent slump by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The index reached a two-month intraday high in early trading but pulled back sharply as the day progressed.

Crude oil futures ended marginally higher on Monday after a ransomware attack forced the shutdown of pipelines supplying around 45% of fuel to the East Coast. Alpharetta, Ga.-based Colonial Pipeline Co., which operates the 5,500-mile Colonial Pipeline system that transports fuel from Gulf Coast refineries to the East Coast, said over the weekend that it was the victim of a cyberattack and had temporarily shut down pipeline activity to contain the threat. Besides, oil prices found some support on hopes energy demand in the US and Europe will increase thanks to the re-opening of economies. Crude oil futures for June rose 2 cents or 0.03 percent to settle at $64.92 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July Brent crude gained 4 cents or nearly 0.1 percent to settle at $68.32 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian Rupee ended fairly higher against US dollar on Monday, on the back of selling of the American currency by exporters. This was the third consecutive session when the rupee was traded higher against dollar. Sentiments were upbeat as India's exports continued their positive growth and grew by 80 per cent to $7.04 billion during the first week of this month, as compared to exports of $3.91 billion during May 1-7 last year. The data showed that exports stood at $ 6.48 billion in the same week of May 2019. Adding more optimism, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that India is committed to concluding negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement and investment protection pact with European Union (EU) together at an early date. On the global front; dollar nursed losses near 2-1/2 month lows on Monday as a disappointing U.S. employment report prompted investors to unwind their growing long positions in the greenback. Finally, the rupee ended 73.35, stronger by 16 paise from its previous close of 73.51 on Friday.

The FIIs as per Monday's data were net seller in equity segment, while net buyer in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 7153.22 crore against gross selling of Rs 8354.66 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 950.91 crore with gross sales of Rs 420.45 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10.85 crore against gross selling of Rs 17.89 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Monday as inflation jitters drove investors away from market-leading growth stocks in favor of cyclicals, which stand to benefit most as the economy reopens. Asian markets are trading in red on Tuesday as Wall Street retreated on worries about accelerating inflation, prompting investors to cut back on their exposure to growth-focused stocks on bets of higher interest rates in the not-too-distant future. Indian markets ended higher for a fourth straight session on Monday boosted by metal stocks on the back of strong commodity prices and as mortgage lender, HDFC extended gains after better-than-expected quarterly results. Today, the start of session is likely to be gap-down amid sell-off in the global markets. There will be some cautiousness as domestic rating agency Crisil warned India's economic growth may slip to 8.2 per cent if the second wave peaks in end of June, maintaining its baseline estimate of 11 per cent uptick in activity. Traders will be concerned as State Bank of India's (SBI)'s economic research arm warned that a huge buildup of carry positions could negatively impact the exchange rate and lead to inflation. However, some respite may come later in the day as India continues to witness decline in the number of daily Covid-19 cases. The country recorded 329,517 infections, taking its tally to almost 23 million, Wordometer showed. On a positive note, more than 19 million patients have recovered. Some support may also come as to expedite procurement of critical Covid-19 supplies, the government relaxed the General Financial Rules (GFR) and removed all restrictive provisions to enable larger participation and faster procurement. Bank Guarantees have been waived off for all procurement. Besides, investors will keep an eye on the results of the MSCI May 2021 semi-annual index review, which is set to be released later in the day. Meanwhile, market regulator Sebi came out with a fresh proposal for segregation and monitoring of collateral at client level amid instances of misuse of client collateral by trading members. Banking  stocks will  be in focus as the Reserve Bank came out with modified guidelines that allow sound private sector banks to undertake government business, whether at the Centre or in states. According to the modified norms, scheduled private sector banks, which are not under the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework of the RBI, can undertake government business after executing an agreement with the central bank. There will be some reaction in insurance companies stocks with Irdai data showing that the gross direct premium written by non-life insurance companies rose by over 22 per cent in April this year to Rs 17,309.54 crore.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• HDFC has entered into a share purchase agreement for sale of 44,12,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each, representing 0.62% of the issued and paid-up share capital of HDFC Ergo. 
• Cipla has signed a royalty-free, non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with Eli Lilly and Company, USA for the manufacture and commercialization of the drug baricitinib for Covid-19 indication. 
• Reliance Industries' step down subsidiary -- Reliance Retail has been ranked second fastest growing retailer in the world in the 2021 ranking of global retail power houses by Deloitte. 
• Coal India is all set to continue with the supply of coal to the power plants under import substitution in the FY22.