Travel related stocks jump, shares of IRCTC climb by 14%
The shares of IRCTC climbed significantly on Friday with the rise being 14.51% at 3:30 pm, when the markets closed. The price of one share was pegged at Rs. 1,578.00. Like IRCTC, the shares of InterGlobe, India's biggest airline operator, rose by 5.71% and was priced at Rs. 1,738.00. Shares of SpiceJet recorded a 9.99% spike with the price being Rs. 89.20.
As evident, it was a good day for travel-related stocks. The positive news about the coronavirus vaccine is believed to have played a role in it. Recently, vaccine developers, from Oxford University to Pfizer and Moderna, released data about the efficiency of their doses. While Pfizer said its vaccine showed 95% efficacy, Moderna claimed its product was 100% effective in preventing severe cases.
IRCTC made stock market debut last year
A public sector undertaking of the Ministry of Railways, IRCTC handles catering, tourism, and online tickets. It was only last year that the firm joined the stock market race. The shares of IRCTC were listed on BSE and NSE at Rs. 644 and Rs. 626 apiece, respectively, in October 2019. Notably, IRCTC is also a top pick of Ventura Securities, an online trading firm.
In March, IRCTC's shares dipped drastically and were priced at merely Rs. 774. Friday's numbers show the shares have rebounded sharply. However, they are yet to surge past the historic high of Rs. 1,995, which was attained in February. Ventura Securities said IRCTC's competitive prices of drinking water give it an edge. The customers' sentiment toward cloud kitchen services also helped IRCTC.
There's a hope that normalcy will return soon: Ventura Securities
"The recent encouraging announcement of a breakthrough in the production of a COVID-19 vaccine raises hopes that normalcy should return sooner than later. While the FY21 performance will be impacted, we expect a strong pick-up in FY22/23," explained the firm.
Sensex breached historic 45,000-mark after RBI revised real GDP growth
Meanwhile, buoyed by RBI's key announcements today, the S&P BSE Sensex index jumped 446.90 points (or 1%) to breach the 45,000-mark for the first time ever. It was recorded at 45,079.55 when markets closed. Earlier today, RBI kept repo and reverse repo rates unchanged, and also revised real GDP growth for FY2021 at -7.5%, a 2% increase from the previous prediction of -9.5%.
