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Sensex, Nifty track Wall Street higher, pharma stocks jump on US trade deal hopes

Dubai - The Nifty pharma index rose 1.1 per cent and topped the percentage gainers among sectors on Thursday.

Indian shares ticked higher on Thursday as investors were encouraged by overnight gains on Wall Street, even as domestic coronavirus cases crossed 1.2 million.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.3 per cent to 11,166.7 by 0455 GMT and the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.15 per cent to 37,927.93, led by pharma stocks, seen as a key beneficiary of a possible trade deal between India and the United States.
"Following the mixed global market cues, US-China tension and US stimulus package expectation, Indian market is trading little positive. Nifty50 is up by 0.35 per cent and BSE Sensex is up by 0.18 per cent," said Yogesh Khairajani, Global Market Strategist, Century Financial.
In Nifty50 gain is led by BPCL which is up by 4.35 per cent and ZEEL is up by 4.20 per cent. BPCL rally is supported by big global oil companies interest in buying its stake. Among the sectoral indices Media is up by 1.30 per cent, Pharma is up by 0.75 per cent FMCG is up by 0.65 per cent and IT is down by 0.60 per cent. 
In Mumbai, the Nifty pharma index rose 1.1 per cent and topped the percentage gainers among sectors on Thursday. Generic Drugmaker Cipla advanced 1.5 per cent.
Bharat Petroleum rose 4.7 per cent to the top of the Nifty index, followed by Zee Entertainment gaining 4 per cent.
Lender Axis Bank was the session's top laggard, falling 2.79 per cent. India reported 45,720 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 1.24 million by Thursday morning, according to government data https://www.mohfw.gov.in.
The domestic surge came as the global tally crossed 15 million and a World Health Organization expert said the first use of a Covid-19 vaccine cannot be expected till early 2021. - With inputs from Reuters, sandhya@khaleejtimes.com