Indian benchmark indices are expected to start the day in the red on Monday as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the index in India with a 202 points loss.

As per the latest data, India recorded over 2.75 new Covid cases in last 24 hours, its biggest single-day spike with total cases past the 1.5 crore mark since the start of the pandemic.

On the result front, ACC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Bajaj Consumer Care, CRISIL, Agio Paper & Industries, Pratik Panels, Response Informatics, and Sri Chakra Cement will release quarterly numbers on Monday.

On Friday, the 30-share benchmark index ended at 48832.03 up by 28.35 points or by 0.06 % and then NSE Nifty was at 14617.85 up by 36.4 points or by 0.25 %.

On the global front, Asian shares hovered near 1-1/2 week highs on Monday helped by expectations monetary policy will remain accommodative the world over, while Covid-19 vaccine rollouts help ease fears of another dangerous wave of coronavirus infections. Australian shares were 0.25 per cent higher while South Korea's KOSPI added 0.4 per cent and Japan's Nikkei eased 0.4 per cent.

Back home, Top traded Volumes on NSE Nifty – Wipro Ltd. 109361636.00, Tata Motors Ltd. 75330709.00, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd. 41791181.00, State Bank of India 37766793.00, Hindalco Industries Ltd. 28438547.00, On NSE, total number of shares traded was 22.64 Crore and total turnover stood at Rs. 66091.78 Crore.

On NSE Future and Options, total number of contracts traded in index futures was 306709 with a total turnover of Rs. 28792.51 Crore. Along with this total number of contracts traded in stock futures were 648997 with a total turnover of Rs. 64089.78 Crore. Total numbers of contracts for index options were 20065372 with a total turnover of Rs. 1885819.22 Crore. and total numbers of contracts for stock options were 1845114 with a total turnover of Rs. 191783.16 Crore.

The FIIs on 16/04/2021 stood as net buyer in equity and debt. Gross equity purchased stood at Rs. 11641.53 Crore and gross debt purchased stood at Rs. 2145.58 Crore, while the gross equity sold stood at Rs. 12454.18 Crore and gross debt sold stood at Rs. 1711.23 Crore. Therefore, the net investment of equity and debt reported were Rs. -812.65 Crore and Rs. 434.35