Indian bourses open high on hopes of more global stimulus

Dubai - Oil prices extended gains on hopes major producers will cut output at a meeting later in the day in response to a collapse in global oil demand.

Indian bourses opened high on Thursday morning on hopes of more global stimulus as markets followed reports that COVID-19 pandemic is nearing a peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus measures, while expectations of an oil production cut agreement bolstered crude prices.
Sensex surged 1,046.31points or 3.50 per cent to touch at 30,940.27 points and Nifty 50 was up by 2.38 per cent or 207.85 points to touch 8,956.60.
Asian shares rose on Thursday on hopes the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing a peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus measures, while expectations of an oil production cut agreement bolstered crude prices.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 per cent, following a strong Wall Street close.
Shares in China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged late last year, rose 0.54 per cent. Australian shares were up 1.52 per cent.
Oil prices extended gains on hopes major producers will cut output at a meeting later in the day in response to a collapse in global oil demand.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state's efforts at social distancing were working in getting the virus under control in one of the biggest hot spots in the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would like to reopen the U.S. economy with a "big bang" but that the death toll from the coronavirus first needs to be heading down.
"There are signs that infections are peaking, which is leading to the change in market sentiment," said Masayuki Kichikawa, chief macro strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co in Tokyo.
"We still need to be very careful, because this is not purely an economic problem. It's more like a natural disaster and, therefore, harder to predict."
The S&P 500 gained 3.41% on Wednesday, helped by hopes the pandemic was nearing its peak. However, U.S. stock futures gave up earlier gains to be down 0.27 per cent.
Japan's Nikkei stock index bucked the regional trend and fell 0.55 per cent as coronavirus infections in the country rose and following the government's declaration of a state of emergency for Tokyo and other urban areas.
US. crude rose 4.58 per cent to $26.24 a barrel. Brent crude rose 2.5 per cent to $33.71 per barrel.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia - a group known as OPEC+ - are set to convene a video conference meeting on Thursday.
Hopes of an agreement to cut between 10 million and 15 million barrels per day (bpd) rose after media reports suggested Russia was ready to reduce its output by 1.6 million bpd. - Sandhya@khaleejtimes.com, with inputs from agencies