Benchmarks pare gains; broader market trades lower

Equity indices came off the day's high as profit booking emerged at higher level in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 451.44 points or 1.06% at 43,048.65. The Nifty 50 index spurted 101.25 points or 0.81% at 12,562.85. The firmness was led by banks and financial shares while IT and pharma shares corrected sharply.

In the afternoon trade, the Sensex hit a record high of 43,270.95 while the Nifty hit a record high of 21,633.10. 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.

 

The broader market traded with losses. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.41% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.57%.

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 1,161 shares rose and 1,472 shares fell. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.

Bihar Elections:

The National Democratic Alliance is surging ahead of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar polls on Tuesday as the counting of votes for the 243 assembly seats is underway. After initial trends showed a close neck-and-neck contest between the two rival alliances, the incumbent Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance seem to be leading in 130 seats, well above the halfway mark of 122.

Buzzing Segment:

Shares of seven hospitality companies rose by 3.24% to 13.9% as progress with Covid-19 vaccine lifted investors' sentiment.

Indian Hotels Company (up 13.9%), Lemon Tree Hotels (up 10%), EIH Associated Hotels (up 8.55%), EIH (up 6.11%), India Tourism Development Corporation (up 5.1%), Chalet Hotels (up 4.7%) and Delta Corp (up 3.24%) advanced.

Investors hoped that a vaccine may revive the travel and tourism business across the world. The Covid-19 pandemic shook the hotel industry particularly hard, and turned many hotel businesses upside down.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Pfizer jumped 4.31% after the company's US-based parent said that its vaccine candidate against COVID-19 achieved success in first interim analysis from Phase 3 study. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE announced their mRNA-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 has demonstrated evidence of efficacy against COVID-19 in participants without prior evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on the first interim efficacy analysis conducted on 8 November 2020 by an external, independent Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) from the Phase 3 clinical study.

E.I.D. Parry (India) gained 2.15% after the sugar maker posted a 48% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 562.70 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 380.36 crore in Q2 September 2019. Consolidated net sales grew by 2.8% to Rs 5836.21 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 5675 crore in Q2 September 2019. Consolidated EBITDA for Q2 September 2020 came at Rs 890 crore, registering a 31% rise year on year from Rs 681 crore in the corresponding period last year.

JK Cement fell 0.38%. The cement maker's consolidated net profit jumped 170% to Rs 221.56 crore in Q2 September 2020 from Rs 81.9 crore in Q2 September 2019. Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 1634.4 crore in Q2 September 2020, rising 24% year on year from Rs 1317.63 crore in Q2 September 2019.

Numbers to Track:

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged lower to 74.2 compared with its previous closing 74.15.

The yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 5.906% compared with its closing of 5.876% in the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 4 December 2020 settlement added 1.67% to Rs 50,580.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for January 2021 settlement rose 45 cents to $42.85 a barrel. The contract surged 7.48% to settle at $42.4 in the previous trading sessions.

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