Sensex, Nifty scale record highs on COVID-19 vaccine hopes

Sensex and Nifty rose for an eighth straight session in early trade today, hitting record highs on COVID-19 vaccine hopes and gains in pharma sector stocks. While Sensex rose 413 points to all-time high of 43,708, Nifty gained 138 points to record high of 12,769.

On Tuesday, Sensex and  Nifty logged record closing highs of 43,277 and 12,631, respectively.

Pharma stocks were the top gainers with BSE Healthcare index rising 452 points to 19,377.

Pfizer Ltd share rose nearly 4% after the pharma firm said its parent Pfizer Inc was in discussion with government to sell its promising Covid-19 vaccine in India. Share of Pfizer gained 3.76% to Rs 5238 against previous close of Rs 5048 on BSE.

Auto stocks also rose buoyed by Q2 earnings of Mahindra & Mahindra which beat estimates.

Mahindra and Mahindra share gained nearly 3% after it posted a higher quarterly revenue and said it expected strong demand for vehicles until the end of the year.

BSE auto index climbed 393 points intra day to 18,688 against previous close of 18,295. Top Sensex gainers were Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel rising up to 2.5%.

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Top losers on Sensex were IndusInd Bank, RIL and Titan falling up to 5.06%.

Of 30 Sensex stocks, 21 were trading in green.

Market breadth was negative with 1104 stocks rising against 1341 declining on BSE. 160 stocks were unchanged.

Global markets

Shares were mostly higher Wednesday in Asia after a worldwide rally spurred by hopes that a COVID-19 vaccine will help the global economy return to normal. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.2% to 25,197.68 and the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.3% to 6,419.50. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.7% to 2,470.11.

Pfizer share rises 4% on report parent in talks with India to sell vaccine