Benchmarks trade firm; pharma stocks rebound

Benchmark indices were trading near the day's high in mid-afternoon. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, soared 1,190.56 points or 2.45% at 49,790.17. The Nifty 50 index surged 371.60 points or 2.60% at 14,653.80.

Shares rallied for the second day as investors cheered Union Budget announcements. Positive global cues also lifted the sentiment.

The broader market lagged the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 2.04% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 1.63%.

Buyers outnumbered sellers. On the BSE, 1,716 shares rose and 1,168 shares fell. A total of 163 shares were unchanged.

The Union Budget 2021 unveiled on 1 February 2021 supported all the essential aspects of growth by an increase in government spending without an increase in indirect taxes. The Budget offered huge stimulus to infrastructure, capex, healthcare and boosted the credit flow by taking out the toxic assets of the banking system. Increased FDI limit in insurance improved the overall outlook of the sector.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,494.23 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 90.46 crore in the Indian equity market on 1 February 2021, provisional data showed.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 10,34,18,646 with 22,38,286 deaths. India reported 1,63,353 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,54,486 deaths while 1,04,48,406 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Pharma index gained 2.08% to 12,355.75, snapping its four day losing streak. The index lost 5% in four trading sessions.

Lupin (up 4%), Sun Pharmaceutical Inds (up 3.24%), Biocon (up 2.85%), Divi's Laboratories (up 2.58%), Cadila Healthcare (up 2.49%), Cipla (up 1.59%) and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (up 1.52%) were top gainers in pharmaceutical segment.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories rose 2.13% to Rs 4523 after the drug major announced the launch of vigabatrin tablets in the US markets. Vigabatrin tablets are a therapeutic equivalent generic version of Sabril (vigabatrin) tablets approved by the U.S. Food andDrug Administration (USFDA).

Stocks in Spotlight:

Isgec Heavy Engineering rose 9.28% to Rs 402.85 after the company said it received two orders - one for a Cement Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (CWHRB), and another for conducting Remnant Life Assessment (RLA) study.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee appreciated to 72.9650 compared with its previous closing of 73.02.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper fell to 6.119% from its previous closing of 6.06%.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2021 settlement fell 0.79% to Rs 48,010.

The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, fell 0.17% to 90.873.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2021 settlement added 65 cents to $57 a barrel. The contract surged 2.38% to settle at $56.35 in the previous trading session.

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