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Local equity benchmarks added gains in afternoon trade with Sensex and Nifty trading up by 172 and 69 points respectively. Gains in frontline blue chip stocks such as Bajaj Auto, HDFC and Maruti Suzuki helped to lift the markets. Sentiments were upbeat with US President Joe Biden's decision to back waiving intellectual property rights on vaccines. This will quicken the vaccination process enabling countries like India to come out of the pandemic faster. However upside remain capped as data on daily infections indicate a rise, though mild, after 5 days of decline. Also, lockdowns & restrictions on mobility are increasing, impacting the economic recovery. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as investors welcomed a strong jobs report from the United States that reinforced optimism that the world's top economy is well on the recovery track.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48849.99, up by 172.44 points or 0.35% after trading in a range of 48614.11 and 48898.68. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.43%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.90%, Auto up by 1.35%, Basic Materials up by 0.85%, Oil & Gas up by 0.80% and IT was up by 0.67%, while Healthcare was down by 0.22% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Auto up by 2.57%, HDFC up by 1.65%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.00%, Nestle up by 0.94% and Tech Mahindra was up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.23%, Sun Pharma down by 0.88%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.61%, Power Grid down by 0.50% and Indusind Bank was down by 0.50% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India has appreciated the Biden administration's decision to support a proposal moved by it and South Africa to temporarily waive some Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) rules amid the coronavirus pandemic. For the past several weeks, India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, along with the diplomats from South Africa, had been meeting US lawmakers and officials regarding the proposal.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said this is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. Tai said ‘The (Biden) administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines’. A majority of Democratic Congressmen had written to President Joe Biden urging him to back the proposal so that vaccines can be made accessible and affordable.

Sandhu said ‘We also thank the large number of US Senators and Congresspersons who expressed their support. We will continue to work with all stakeholders in the US to collectively fight the global pandemic including through equitable distribution of affordable vaccines for global public health at this critical juncture’. In the past few months, the Indian Embassy had made a focused outreach on the need for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in the developing world.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14687.10, up by 69.25 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 14611.50 and 14697.45. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 4.15%, Tata Steel up by 3.19%, Wipro up by 2.87%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.50% and Eicher Motors was up by 2.24%. On the flip side, UPL down by 1.34%, Asian Paints down by 1.26%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.04%, Shree Cement down by 0.98% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.84% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; Shanghai Composite gained 2.25 points or 0.07% to 3,449.11, Nikkei 225 surged 518.74 points or 1.8% to 29,331.37, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 150.92 points or 0.9% to 16,994.36, Straits Times advanced 13.65 points or 0.43% to 3,167.24. Hang Seng increased 130.98 points or 0.46% to 28,548.96and KOSPI was up by 31.37 points or 1% to 3,178.74. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite was down by 5.66 points or 0.09% to 5,970.25.

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