Sensex, Nifty extend gains; Man Industries jumps by 17 per cent, Dr Reddys gains post COVID-19 vaccine news

On Wednesday, the domestic markets witnessed a volatile session after the benchmark indices gained during the afternoon session. Sensex rose by 258.50 points or 0.66 per cent to close at 39,302.85 while Nifty gained by 76.90 points or 0.67 per cent to settle at 11,598.70.

Investor sentiments remained weak as RBI Governor said that the path towards economic recovery will be gradual. Additionally, border tensions with China also weighed on the investor sentiments but markets cheered on hopes of an early vaccine in India after an announcement made by Dr Reddy’s.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories announced that the company, along with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) i.e. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, has agreed to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. It is being considered to be the world’s first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform. Upon regulatory approval in India, RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddy’s 100 million doses of the vaccine. Reacting to the news, the stock of Dr Reddy’s soared 4.24 per cent to Rs 4,631.55 per share on BSE.

Investors also seemed to be cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve Meeting. In the global markets, Shanghai index, Hang Seng and KOSPI fell by 0.36 per cent, 0.03 per cent, and 0.31 per cent, respectively while Nikkei closed flat with a positive bias. In the European markets, FTSE 100 was seen trading in the negative territory, down by 0.14 per cent whereas, CAC 40 was in green, up by 0.097 per cent while DAX was trading flat.

Sensex gainers included Mahindra & Mahindra that went up by 4.24 per cent, Bajaj Auto jumped 3.44 per cent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries gained by 2.50 per cent, HDFC Bank increased by 2.11 per cent, Infosys rose by 1.95 per cent, Larsen & Toubro gained by 1.36 per cent, etc.

Sensex losers consisted of IndusInd Bank, which went down by 1.80 per cent, NTPC fell by 1.43 per cent, SBI decreased by 0.95 per cent, ONGC fell by 0.88 per cent, Bharti Airtel decreased by 0.83 per cent etc.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, Realty index was the top gainer, up by 2.70 per cent whereas, Telecom index was the biggest loser, down by 0.99 per cent. BSE Small-Cap index gained by 0.44 per cent and BSE Mid-Cap index rose by 0.21 per cent.