Nifty50 climbs Mount 13,000 on Covid-19 vaccine hope; Sensex rises 446 pts

The benchmark Nifty50 index on Tuesday scaled the psychological 13,000-mark amid sustained buying by overseas investors. Favourable global cues after the beginning of US President-elect Joe Biden's formal transition also boosted sentiment. Besides, Biden’s planned nomination of former Fed chair Janet Yellen to be Treasury Secretary, considered to be of a dovish-bent, was welcomed by the markets.

The Nifty ended at 13,055 following a gain of 128 points, or 1 per cent. The Sensex, which kissed the 44,500-mark in intra-day deals, closed at 44,523, up 446 points, or 1.01  per cent.

Tuesday’s gains were underpinned by renewed buying in banking stocks. Signs of progress on a Covid-19 vaccine spurred hopes for a faster economic recovery. The Nifty had first topped the 12,000-mark during June last year. The index took 368 trading sessions to cover the 1,000-point milestone. In the interim, it had slipped below the 8,000-mark during the Covid-19-triggered sell-off in March. 

The markets this month have surged more than 12 per cent on the back of more than $7 billion of foreign flows.  The US election results and the progress in Covid-19 vaccine trails have buoyed sentiment.

“There were many concerns about the vaccine until last week. About the logistics of distributing the vaccines and their efficacy,” said Saurabh Mukherjea, founder, Marcellus Investments.

Another boost to the markets was US President Donald Trump's statement on Monday that his administration would co-operate with Biden's transition team. The US president's announcement came after a Michigan board-certified Biden as the winner. 
 

Banking and finance stocks, which have significant weighting in the benchmark indices, continued to rally on optimism that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would accept the recommendations of a working group.