
Sensex closes above 44,000, Nifty holds above 12,900; ONGC top gainer
13 min read . Updated: 23 Nov 2020, 03:52 PM IST- Pfizer and German partner BioNTech said they have sought emergency use authorisation for their coronavirus vaccine, which could come next month. AstraZeneca said its vaccine, in partnership with University of Oxford, could be 90% effective
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Top losers on BSE

Top losers on Nifty

Multimodal connectivity masterplan soon: DPIIT secretary
The government will soon come out with a national masterplan for providing multimodal connectivity across various industrial hubs to cut down logistics cost and improve competitiveness of local manufacturing, said a government official.
This would set the timeframe for building infrastructure facilities of world standards, said Guruprasad Mohapatra, secretary in the department for promotion of industry and internal trade.
BSE SmallCap up 1.4% at 16,405.73

BSE MidCap outperforms Sensex, up 1.3% at 16,651.53

Volume toppers on Sensex

PM Modi to hold meeting with chief ministers on covid-19 tomorrow via video conferencing
Sensex contributors at this hour

Fake Xiaomi products worth ₹33.3 lakhs seized in Chennai and Bengaluru
Counterfeit Xiaomi products including headphones, power banks, chargers and earphones worth ₹33.3 lakhs were seized by the police during October-November from four suppliers in Chennai and three suppliers in Bengaluru, according to Xiaomi.
The shops selling these products were discovered by Xiaomi's anti-counterfeit team which was created for the purpose.
HAL says indigenous intermediate jet trainer developed by co to replace IAF’s Kiran Aircraft fleet: CNBC TV-18
Nifty IT best performer among sectoral indices so far today

Broad market indices at this hour

India may see current account surplus in FY21: Chief Economic Advisor
India may see a current account surplus this fiscal due to a fall in imports, KV Subramanian, chief economic adviser (CEA) at the ministry of finance, said on Monday.
“The covid crisis was a negative shock to demand. This is reflected in the fact that this year we may be having a current account surplus. In Q1 (April-June) we had almost a $20 billion current account surplus. Even if we don’t see a similar performance in the subsequent quarters, we are still likely to have a current account surplus, together with the emphasis on Aatma Nirbhar Bharat and the behavioral change that is being attempted," Subramanian said at a virtual industry event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Monday.
ReNew Power, Greenko, among others, evince interest in buying out Chandigarh discom
Two of India’s largest green energy firms—ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd and Greenko Energy Holdings—are among the ten companies that have evinced interest in buying out the Chandigarh’ electricity distribution company (discom), said two people aware of the development.
The others who have bought the request for proposals (RFP) document made available from 10 November for the Chandigarh discom are - Tata Power, CESC Ltd, Torrent Power, Adani Group, NTPC Ltd, GMR Group, India Power Corporation Ltd and Sterlite Power.
Top gainers/losers on Nifty at this hour

IndusInd Bank extends gains, up 6.7% now

Vaccine hopes drive European stocks higher: Reuters
European shares jumped on Monday as encouraging developments around a coronavirus vaccine spurred bets of a faster economic revival globally, even as a surge in infection rates clouded near-term outlook.
AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine, developed along with the University of Oxford, could be around 90% effective under one dosing regimen.

Cognizant to introduce diversity measures from 2021; more women in leadership roles: CEO
Srei Infrastructure Finance slumps 13%; RBI audit financier
The RBI is conducting a special audit of Srei Infrastructure Finance hinting that something might be amiss at the financier that has more than ₹30,000 crore in outstanding loans.

Sensex eyeing high of 44,271.15 points

Working ahead of the curve on vaccine deliver: Shobana Kamineni, executive vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise
Preparations for a likely covid-19 immunisation drive next year are picking up pace. India appears to be well placed from a production and development perspective. Yet, there are questions that remain unanswered. One of them is the role of the private sector, Shobana Kamineni, executive vice chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, told Mint in an interview.
Sebi’s public float plan to aid LIC IPO
The markets regulator on Friday proposed to reduce the size of large initial public offerings (IPOs), a move that would make it easier for state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India to comply with initial share sale rules.
In a consultation paper, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposed that companies with a post-issue capital of above ₹10,000 crore will be required to initially sell only 5% of the company to the public.
Israel’s Netanyahu met with Saudi crown prince, Haaretz reports
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly flew to Saudi Arabia to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Haaretz reported, citing unidentified people in Israel.
Strides Pharma gets US FDA nod for Prednisone Tablets: BSE filing
Strides Pharma Science's step-down subsidiary, Strides Pharma Global Pte., Singapore, has received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration for Prednisone Tablets USP, 2.5 mg and 5 mg.
The product is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the Reference Listed Drug (RLD), Deltasone tablets, 2.5 mg and 5 mg, of Pharmacia and Upjohn Co.
According to IQVIA MAT September 2020 data, the US market for Prednisone Tablets USP, 2.5 mg and 5 mg is approximately US$ 30 Mn. The product will be manufactured at the company’s flagship facility at Bengaluru and will be marketed by Strides Pharma Inc. in the US market.
The company has 127 cumulative ANDA filings with USFDA of which 93 ANDAs have been approved and 34 are pending approval.

Motherson Sumi surges; company unveils vision 2025
Shares of auto component manufacturer Motherson Sumi Systems on Monday surged 5% to ₹146.30 apiece, amid a recovery in global automotive industry. The auto parts maker recently outlined its Vision 2025 plan that focuses on expanding into nascent geographies, new technologies in current products, and addressing the broader mobility space beyond passenger vehicles.
The company is targeting revenues of $36 billion over the next five years

AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shows average efficiency of 70%: Reuters
AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine for the novel coronavirus, developed along with the University of Oxford, showed an average efficiency of 70% in protecting against the virus in two study segments.
Gold view: Anuj Gupta, DVP, Commodities and Currencies Research, Angel Broking
"Hopes of a potential vaccine against the covid-19 virus might weigh on yellow metal's prices. As for today, traders can go for sell in gold at ₹50400 levels with the stop loss of ₹50600 levels for the target of 49800 levels. They can also go for sell in silver at ₹62,400 levels, with the stop loss of 63100 levels and for the target of 61000 levels."
Danone to cut up to 2,000 jobs, aiming for $1.2 bln savings: Bloomberg
Danone will cut as many as 2,000 jobs, including one in four positions at its global headquarters in Paris, as the world’s largest yogurt maker attempts to revive profitability amid the pandemic.
The job cuts are taking place in Danone’s headquarters for global and French operations, and cost savings should reach 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) by 2023, Danone said in a statement Monday. Total one-time costs related to the changes will be about 1.4 billion euros for the 2021-2023 period.
SC asks Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam to file status reports on covid situation: ANI
Broader market indices outperform Nifty

Favipiravir data demonstrates significant improvement in time to clinical cure in mild covid patients: Glenmark Pharma
Oral antiviral medication Favipiravir, that prevents the replication phase of the virus life-cycle, leads to significant improvement in clinical cure in patients with mild to moderate covid-19. These findings were observed in a randomized, controlled Phase 3 clinical study conducted by Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, and the results are now published online in The International Journal of Infectious Diseases (IJID), the company said in a filing to the exchanges.

Sensex stocks at this hour

LVB slumps 10%, hits all-time low; investors fear merger with DBS India

Mindtree partners Nordex Group: BSE filing

NBFCs higher on hopes of securing banking licence
Shares of India’s non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), especially those promoted by large business houses, have got a boost on hopes of their entry into the banking sector.
The view is that these NBFCs could soon become banks if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) takes the recommendations of a working group seriously. On Friday, the working group formed in June to examine new bank licences came out with big suggestions that included turning large NBFCs into banks.
Rajasthan health minister tests positive for covid, CM Gehlot tweets
Gland Pharma shares surge today, up 45% in two days
Having made a stellar stock exchange debut on Friday, shares of Gland Pharma extended gains today. The stock was locked in the 20% upper circuit at ₹ ₹2,184 apiece. On Friday, shares had settled at ₹1,820 compared to issue price of ₹1,500.
“Gland Pharma is a niche player focused on injectables," Hemang Jani, head equity strategist at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., wrote in a note. “The pharma sector is in focus and given its strong fundamentals and promising future, there is lot of investment interest."

Spot gold holds gains on softer greenback
Gold edged higher on Monday, as a softer dollar and hopes of further US monetary stimulus offset optimism over the quick rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine and bolstered the precious metal's appeal, Reuters reported.
Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,872.76 per ounce and U.S. gold futures were little changed at $1,871.80.
Top gainers/losers on Nifty

Nifty technicals: Sameet Chavan, chief analyst, Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking
"Markets have already taken a giant leap and mostly all the major positive factors are already priced in; markets had no fresh trigger to continue the similar kind of pace. We still do not rule out the possibility of immediate levels of 13,100 - 13,200, but the rally may not be that smooth now. The overall trend still remains strongly bullish and we continue with our ‘Buy on declines’ strategy but in between, we are likely to see some profit taking. For this week, Friday’s low of 12,730 will now be seen as key support. A move below this will extend the corrective move towards 12,600 - 12,450 levels; whereas on the higher side, 12,963 is the level to watch out for."
Markets slip

Most NBFCs rise on RBI panel proposal to allow them banking licence

US moves to ban tech exports to 89 Chinese firms: Reuters
The Trump administration is close to issuing a list of 89 Chinese aerospace and other companies that would be unable to access US technology exports due to their military ties, Reuters reported, a move that could escalate tensions as the Biden administration prepares to take over.
Oil gains on US vaccination optimism: Reuters
Oil prices extended gains on Monday as traders eyed a recovery in crude demand thanks to successful coronavirus vaccine trials, although prices were contained by renewed lockdowns in several countries.
Sentiment was also bolstered by hopes that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, will keep crude output in check.
Brent crude futures rose 21 cents, or 0.5%, to $45.17 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $42.52 a barrel. Both benchmarks had jumped 5% last week.
Nifty Pharma rises most among sectoral indices on hope of vaccine rollout

RIL up over 2% as CCI approves deal with Future Retail
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday approved Future Retail Ltd’s asset sale to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), in a setback for Amazon.com Inc., which had approached the anti-trust watchdog to halt the ₹24,700 crore deal.
“Commission approves acquisition of retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing businesses of Future Group by Reliance Retail Ventures and Reliance Retail and Fashion Lifestyle," CCI said in a tweet.

India rupee opens at 74.13 to a dollar versus Friday's close of 74.14
Sensex declines as HDFC twins, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank drag

Nifty view: Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments
"We opened on a positive note but there seems to be some nervousness to get past the 13000 mark! The Nifty is still poised to achieve 13100-13200 but is facing some resistance at Friday's high of 12963. Once we get past that, we could see a smooth sailing to 13100-13200. The support for this week is at 12700."
Prestige Estates up 2% as company to develop projects worth ₹2,000 crore
Prestige Estates Projects will develop four new housing projects in Bengaluru, Goa and Hyderabad with an investment of nearly ₹2,000 crore amid recovery in demand for residential properties.

Mphasis down over 1% on reports Blackstone may looking to exit stock
Private equity giant Blackstone is mulling options to exit Mphasis which it bought in 2016, the Economic Times reported. It has initiated talks with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citi for sale advisory while KPMG has begun vendor diligence.

IndusInd Bank soars as RBI panel moots allowing promoters to raise stake
Promoter Hinduja Group may be able raise its shareholding in the private bank to 26% if the Reserve Bank of India accepts the recommendations of an internal working group on the review of extant ownership guidelines and corporate structure of Indian private sector banks.

Nifty sectoral indices

Nifty at open

Sensex at open

Top gainers/losers on Sensex at pre-open

Indian indices higher at pre-open buoyed by gains in Asia
Benchmark equity indices traded higher in the pre-opening session.
At 0905am, the Sensex was up 0.5% or 212.40 points at 44,094.65, while the Nifty was at 12,952.45 points, up 0.73%.
Nifty at pre-open

Markets at pre-open

Nifty view: Manish Hathiramani, Proprietary Index Trader and Technical Analyst, Deen Dayal Investments
After a gap-down, the Nifty turned positive but was unable to sustain that for very long. It went back into negative territory but has not broken the support of 12500 which means the trend continues to remain bullish. 13100 still remains an open target which the index can achieve by the end of the November series.
Stocks to Watch
Shares of Reliance Industries, NBFCs, Vodafone Idea, Tata Steel will be in focus today.
Bank of Baroda, BHEL, Canara Bank, DLF, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, L&T Finance Holdings, NALCO, Punjab National Bank and RBL Bank are under the F&O ban for 23 November.
SGX Nifty trades higher
The SGX Nifty traded at 12,968.20, up 0.6%, indicting a positive start to domestic benchmark indices. Recovering from a low of 43,453, Sensex had ended 282 points higher at 43,882 on Friday while the Nifty had closed up 0.7% at 2,859.05.
Asian equities edge higher on hope of vaccine rollout
A broad gauge of Asian shares edged up to record highs in early deals on Monday as hopes for imminent coronavirus vaccines buoyed investor sentiment, but worries over the impact of economic lockdowns and uncertainty over US stimulus capped gains, Reuters reported.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.38%, pushing past a previous record high touched on Friday.
Trading activity was thin early in the Asian day, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday. Nikkei futures added 0.16% to 25,785 and Seoul's Kospi was 0.84% higher.
US stocks closed lower Friday
Wall Street stocks fell on Friday as markets weighed worries about rising coronavirus cases and a surprise US government move to end some emergency lending programmes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.8% at 29,263.48.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 0.7% to 3,557.54, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4% to 11,854.97.
US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said Friday they have applied for emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine, which could come next month.
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