Market

Copper rallied to its highest in nearly seven years on Thursday on hopes that a vaccine for the coronavirus would galvanise global markets and boost demand for the industrial metal.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 0.9 per cent to $7,368 a tonne at 6:00 pm (IST), after hitting $7,410 a tonne, its highest since January 2, 2014.

The metal, widely used in power and construction industries, has rallied 77 per cent since its March lows.

“Copper’s rise is generally macro driven because of the vaccine and risk sentiment remains upbeat …. We are seeing synchronised gains across all metals,” said ING analyst Wenyu Yao.

“Fundamentals look good but it’s the funds that are having enthusiasm for copper particularly right now.” A softer dollar also buoyed metals, as it makes commodities priced in the

The benchmark Nifty50 index had hit the 8,000 mark for the first time in September 2014. It took the index over six years (1,613 trading sessions) to scale the 13,000-mark— a gain of more than 60 per cent.

On an average, every 1,000-point milestone took about 270 trading sessions. Even the latest 1,000 point increase took nearly 18 months—the Nifty had first topped the 12,000 mark in June 2019. However, the index has managed to chart the same path nearly 10 times faster this year.

The Nifty had slipped below the 8,000 mark on March 23 at the peak of the Covid-19 selloff. From there to 13,000 has barely taken 170 trading sessions, or eight months.

The 1,000-point milestone has taken an average 28 trading sessions. This sharp rise has stunned many on the Street, given the devastating impact caused by the pandemic.

The much-awaited rally 2.0 in emerging-market stocks may already be under way.

Investors’ risk appetite got a boost after Joe Biden’s US presidential win and successes in vaccine development, pushing the benchmark MSCI gauge toward its best month since March 2016.

The emerging-market equity rebound since the coronavirus rout in March is now worth $8.3 trillion, meaning more shareholder wealth has been added in the past eight months than in the two- year rally beginning 2016. When the earlier advance was halted by US-China trade tensions in January 2018, most money managers called it an interruption rather than the end of the rotation into emerging markets. They predicted the second leg of that rally would start once trade tensions subsided. Now, signs are that’s exactly what’s happening, albeit after a few months’ delay because of the pandemic.

Investors from

Equity benchmarks made a winning start to the week on Monday as positive results from another Covid-19 vaccine candidate bolstered investor confidence globally.

After touching a record intra-day high of 44,271.15, Sensex ended 194.90 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 44,077.15. Similarly, the broader Nifty rose 67.40 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 12,926.45.

ONGC was the top performer on the Sensex chart, surging 6.84 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, HCL, and TCS.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries climbed 2.72 per cent, acco­u­nting for most of the Sensex’s gains.

On the other hand, the Nifty Financial Services index was down 1.07 per cent, but its constituents saw a good bit of action. Among gainers, Bajaj Holdings was up 7.8 per cent, while Shriram Transport, Chola Investment, M&M

Five of the 10 most valued domestic firms suffered a combined loss of Rs 1,07,160 crore in market valuation last week, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) emerging as the biggest loser.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), HUL, Infosys Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd were the other bluechip firms that witnessed a drop in their market capitalisation (m-cap) last week. However, HDFC Bank, HDFC Ltd, Bajaj Finance Ltd and Bharti Airtel finished with gains.

RIL’s valuation tumbled Rs 69,378.51 crore to Rs 12,84,246.18 crore.

The m-cap of TCS plummeted Rs 4,165.14 crore to Rs 9,97,984.24 crore and that of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) dropped by Rs 16,211.94 crore to Rs 4,98,011.94 crore.

The market valuation of Infosys fell Rs 12,948.61 crore to Rs 4,69,834.44 crore and that of ICICI Bank declined Rs 4,455.8 crore to Rs 3,31,315.58 crore.

Gland Pharma made a strong debut on the bourses on Friday. The stock got listed at Rs 1,701 — a 13.4 per cent premium to its issue price — and ended the session at Rs 1,820, up 21 per cent over its issue price. The post-listing market capitalisation for the company stands at Rs 29,848 crore, helping it break into the top 10 valuable pharma firms in the country.

The Rs 6,480-crore IPO was one of the biggest by a pharma company in the domestic market. The price band was set at Rs 1,490-1,500 per share. The IPO comprised a fresh issue of Rs 1,250 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 5,230 crore. The firm plans to use the proceeds to fund working capital requirements.

The Fosun-promoted firm’s IPO had managed to sail through on the back of institutional