BENGALURU: India’s main stock indexes hit record highs on Tuesday, following a rise in shares of companies such as airlines and hotels that are expected to benefit from a return to normalcy, as investors across the world cheered progress in the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.3% to 12,499.9 by 0358 GMT and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.36% to 42,759.9, led by banking and financial stocks.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.12% higher on news of Pfizer Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine showing over 90% effectiveness based on initial trial results.
The U.S. drugmaker’s Indian arm Pfizer Ltd gained as much as 19.8% during the session.
Stocks of IndiGo owner InterGlobe Aviation rose 5.3%, while hotel operators EIH Ltd and Lemon Tree rose more than 5% each.
The Nifty IT index was the top drag among sectors and fell 2.8%.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor