Sensex hovers above 43,000 mark

Key equity benchmarks came off the day's high in mid-morning trade. Banking stocks extended gains for the seventh trading session. Sentiment was upbeat after US drug maker Pfizer said large-scale trials of its coronavirus vaccine showed it was more than 90% effective in preventing infection.

At 11:32 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 432 points or 1.01% at 43,029.67. The Nifty 50 index added 114.35 points or 0.92% at 12,575.30.

In the morning trade, the Sensex hit a record high of 43,118.11 while the Nifty hit a record high of 12,598.35.

The broader market turned negative. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.07% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.05%.

The market breadth almost even. On the BSE, 1185 shares rose and 1166 shares fell. A total of 134 shares were unchanged.

COVID-19 Update:

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 5,08,75,289 with 12,62,413 deaths.

India reported 5,05,625 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,27,059 deaths while 79,59,406 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE are the first drug makers to release successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine. They said tests so far have found no serious safety concerns, and expected to seek authorisation for emergency use in the US later this month.

Bihar Elections:

The counting of votes for 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar is under way. The elections saw incumbent Nitish Kumar, who is heading the JD(U)-BJP combine, take on the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan comprising Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and Left Parties. As per the latest trends, the NDA has gained a clear edge in the state and could be on course to retain power. The majority mark is 122.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Bank index was up 3.02% to 28,366.25, extending its winning run to seventh consecutive trading session. The index has jumped 19% in seven trading days. The index is 15% away from its record high of 32613.1 posted on 30 December 2019.

IndusInd Bank (up 5.38%), RBL Bank (up 4.82%), SBI (up 4.6%), ICICI Bank (up 4%), Bank of Baroda (up 2.57%), HDFC Bank (up 2.47%), Punjab National Bank (up 2.45%), Federal Bank (up 2.42%) and Axis Bank (up 2.34%) were top gainers in Nifty Bank index.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Oil India was up 2.19%. The state-run oil major's standalone net profit skid 61.9% to Rs 238.95 crore on 32.5% decrease in net sales to Rs 2,168.95 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. The financial performance during Q2 FY21 was adversely affected due to sharp fall in oil and gas price realizations. Standalone EBITDA fell 43.83% to Rs 848.48 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 1,510.76 crore in Q2 September 2019. Standalone EBITDA margin stood at 37.21% in Q2 FY21 as against 43.39% in Q2 FY20. In terms of dollars, crude oil price realization declined 30.27% to $42.74 per barrel in Q2 FY21 on comparison to $61.30 per barrel in Q2 FY20. In rupee terms, crude oil price realization dropped 26.36% to Rs 3,179 a barrel in Q2 FY21 over Rs 4,317.36 a barrel in Q2 FY20. Average natural gas price realisation during Q2 FY21 dropped 35.23% to $2.39/million metric British Thermal Units (MMBTU) as compared to $3.69/MMBTU in Q2 FY20.

IndiaMART InterMESH was down 2.32%. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 70 crore in Q2 FY21 as against a net profit of Rs 9 crore in Q2 FY20. Revenue from operations rose 4% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 163 crore during the quarter, supported by marginal improvement in realization of existing customers and increase in number of paying subscription suppliers amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company registered a traffic growth of 32% YoY with 25.9 crore in Q2 FY21 as compared to 19.6 crore in Q2 FY20. Total business enquiries delivered increased to 17.5 crore from 12.3 crore, a growth of 42%. Supplier storefronts grew to 0.62 crore in Q2 FY21, an increase of 9% YoY and paying subscription suppliers grew to 141 thousand, a growth of 3%.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks were trading higher on Tuesday as investors in the region reacted to positive developments overnight on the coronavirus vaccine front.

The Dow Jones Futures were trading 148 points lower, indicating a weak start in Wall Street today.

China's consumer price index rose 0.5% in October from a year ago, according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics. The producer price index for China declined 2.1% year-on-year in October, unchanged from a 2.1% drop in September.

In US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 jumped on Monday as investors cheered trial data from drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech indicating their Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective. However, the Nasdaq Composite closed lower as traders rotated out of high-flying technology names that outperformed during the pandemic into more beaten-down value stocks.

While the vaccine study is still ongoing and requires approval, Pfizer and BioNTech said they had found no serious safety concerns so far and expected to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month.

The 90% effective rate from Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech was better than what the market was expecting. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said that a vaccine that was 50% to 60% effective would be acceptable.

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