The key Indian equity indices hit fresh record highs on Tuesday tracking a positive global trend after pharma giant Moderna announced that its vaccine has shown more than 94 per cent effectiveness in preliminary data from the company's ongoing study. Moderna on Monday said that its experimental vaccine is 94.5 per cent effective in preventing Covid-19, boosting hopes of the economy emerging from a year of pandemic-induced downturn.
Sensex crossed the 44,000 mark and touched a record high of 44,161.16 points. Around 9.45 a.m., it was trading at 43,921.55, higher by 313.78 points or 0.65 per cent from its previous close of 43,637.98. Nifty50 was trading at 12,855.75, higher by 75.50 points or 0.59 per cent from its previous close. It has recorded an all-time high of 12,934.05 points.
At the time of writing, Sensex was trading 272.32 points or 0.62% up at 43,910.30, while Nifty was up 78.85 points (0.62%) up at 12,859.10.
The announcement by Moderna also led to a rally in the US stock market on Monday. US stock markets opened on a positive note on Monday. Post the announcement, Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at 29,845, higher by 347 points from its previous close.
The announcement came just a week after Pfizer Inc had announced 90 per cent efficacy of its vaccine. Taken together, these two vaccines are firmly on course to seek emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration if results hold out in the final study results due soon.
Healthy buying was witnessed in banking, finance and metal stocks. The top gainers on the Sensex so far were Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank. HCL Technologies, Bajaj Auto and Infosys were the major losers so far.
Telecom stocks also surged with Vodafone Idea surging up 6% and Airtel going up nearly 3% after reports on Monday suggested that telcos could raise tariffs from next year with Vodafone Idea likely leading the way. This would bring about a significant improvement in the average revenue per user (ARPU) of the telcos.
On the global front, US President-elect Joe Biden unveiled his economic plan to help the country recover from the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic, laying great emphasis on clean energy, job creation and investment into new technologies.
The President-elect made the announcement on Monday after a video meeting with a select group of nine business and labour leaders, including Indian-Americans Satya Nadella (Microsoft) and Sonia Syngal (GAP Inc).