MARKETS: Sensex leaps 895 pts from day's low, settles 453 pts up at 46,007

Bulls returned to Dalal Street in the last hour of trade on Tuesday after the chief executive of BioNTech said the German pharmaceutical company is confident that its coronavirus vaccine would work against the UK variant, but needed further studies to be completely sure. Sentiment was also positive after the US Congress on Monday approved an $892 billion coronavirus aid package, throwing a lifeline to the nation's pandemic-battered economy.

That apart, official data released on Tuesday showed that Britain's economy recovered quicker than previously thought in the third quarter. Gross domestic product grew by a record 16 per cent from July to September, revised up from a previous estimate of 15.5 per cent.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rebounded 895 points from day's low and settled 453 points, or 0.99 per cent, higher at 46,007 levels on the BSE. The index had earlier hit an intra-day low of 45,112. 

HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, and PowerGrid were the top gainers on the 30-share index while HDFC, Bajaj Finance, and IndusInd Bank ended the day as top laggards.

The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, clawed back above the 13,400-mark and closed at 13,466 level, up 138 points or 1.03 per cent. From the day's low of 13,192, the index settled 274 points higher.

On the sectoral front, all the key indices ended the day in the green. IT stocks outperformed the markets with the Nifty IT index and Infosys hitting their respective record highs on the National Stock Exchange. At close, the Nifty IT index was 3.3 per cent higher at 23,612 on the NSE. It hit a fresh record high of 23,681 in the intra-day trade. Among individudal stocks, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Coforge and Mindtree surged up to 6 per cent on the NSE.

The other outperforming sectoral index on the NSE was the Nifty Pharma index that settled 2 per cent higher.

The broader markets snapped their 3-day losing streak with the S&P BSE MidCap index and S&P BSE SmallCap indices settling 1 per cent higher each at 17,252 and 17,118, respectively.

Global markets

European stocks steadied on Tuesday, after heavy losses a day earlier sparked by fears over a highly infectious new strain of Covid-19.

The broad Euro STOXX 600 gained 1.2%, on course for its biggest one-day jump in over five weeks. German and French indexes both added 1.3%. London’s blue chips turned positive, too, recovering early losses.

Earlier, MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.8%, dragged down by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and China's benchmark CSI300 Index.

(With inputs from Reuters)