Equity indices were trading near day's high with decent gains in morning trade. Positive global cues and developments on COVID-19 vaccine cheered investors. At 10:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 205.35 points or 0.43% at 48,074.02. The Nifty 50 index was up 70.55 points or 0.5% at 14,089.
The broader market outperformed the benchmarks. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.92% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.87%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1997 shares rose and 639 shares fell. A total of 146 shares were unchanged.
COVID-19 Update:
Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide stood at 85,095,602 with 1,842,590 deaths. India reported 243,953 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 149,649 deaths while 99,46,867 patients have been discharged, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Meanwhile, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on January 3 reportedly granted restricted emergency use authorisation for the Serum Institute of India (SII)'s 'Covishield' and Bharat Biotech's 'Covaxin' vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The 'Covishield' vaccine, developed by University of Oxford and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, is being produced in the country by the Serum Institute. Bharat Biotech has developed 'Covaxin' - India's first indigenous vaccine against COVID-19.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index gained 2.24% to 3,331.85. The index has added 4.45% in four trading days.
Steel Authority of India (up 4.49%), National Aluminium Company (up 3.05%), Hindalco Industries (up 2.92%), Vedanta (up 2.59%), Tata Steel (up 2.49%), Jindal Steel & Power (up 2.03%), JSW Steel (up 1.77%) and Hindustan Zinc (up 1.11%) were top gainers in metal index.
NMDC jumped 4.81%. The state-owned miner said its iron ore production increased 23.3% to 3.86 million tonnes (MT) in December 2020 from 3.13 MT in December 2019. The company's iron ore sales climbed 19.08% to 3.62 MT in December 2020 from 3.04 MT in December 2019.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Shares of CSB Bank gained 2.06% after the bank said that its total deposits increased 16.48% to Rs 17,752.97 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 15,241.11 crore in Q3 December 2019. Of the total deposits, CASA was at Rs 5,392.96 crore (up 23.88% YoY) while the term deposits were at 12,360.01 crore (up 13.52% YoY) as on 31 December 2020. The bank's gross advances surged 22.64% to Rs 13,425.24 crore in Q3 December 2020 from Rs 10,947.28 crore in Q3 December 2019. Advances against gold & gold jewellery during the December 2020 quarter jumped by 60.36% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 5,633.75 crore.
Federal Bank jumped 4.26% after the bank's total deposits increased by 12% to Rs 1,61,670 crore in Q3 FY21 from Rs 1,44,592 crore in Q3 FY20. At the end of the December 2020 quarter, the private lender's customer deposits were at Rs 1,56,973 crore (up 13% YoY), interbank deposits were at Rs 2,849 crore (up 51% YoY) and certificates of deposit stood at Rs 1,848 crore (down 57% YoY).
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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