Market Wrap, Dec 22: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Bulls returned to Dalal Street in the last hour of trade on Tuesday after the chief executive officer of BioNTech said the German pharmaceutical company is confident that its coronavirus vaccine would work against the UK variant, but needed further studies to be completely sure. Sentiment was also positive after the US Congress on Monday approved an $892 billion coronavirus aid package, throwing a lifeline to the nation's pandemic-battered economy.

That apart, official data released on Tuesday showed that Britain's economy recovered quicker than previously thought in the third quarter. Gross domestic product grew by a record 16 per cent from July to September, revised up from a previous estimate of 15.5 per cent.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rebounded 895 points from the day's low and settled 453 points, or 0.99 per cent, higher at 46,007 levels on the BSE. The index had slipped to 45,112 mark in the intra-day deals. The broader Nifty50, on the other hand, clawed back above the 13,400-mark and closed at 13,466 level, up 138 points or 1.03 per cent. From the day's low of 13,192, the index settled 274 points higher.

On the sectoral front, all the key indices ended the day in the green. IT stocks outperformed the markets with the Nifty IT index and Infosys hitting their respective record highs on the National Stock Exchange. At close, the Nifty IT index was 3.3 per cent higher at 23,612 on the NSE. It hit a fresh record high of 23,681 in the intra-day trade. Among individual stocks, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Coforge and Mindtree surged up to 6 per cent on the NSE today.

The other outperforming sectoral index on the NSE was the Nifty Pharma index that settled 2 per cent higher.

On the downside, shares of IDBI Bank skid 11 per cent on the BSE after listing 372 million equity shares allotted to qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). In the intra-day trade, it tanked 19%.

The broader markets, meanwhile, snapped their 3-day losing streak with the S&P BSE MidCap index and S&P BSE SmallCap indices settling 1 per cent higher each at 17,252 and 17,118, respectively.

In the primary market, the initial public offer of Antony Waste Handling Cell was subscribed 3.3 times till 3:45 pm.

Global markets--

European stocks steadied on Tuesday with the broad Euro STOXX 600 up 1.2%. It was on course for its biggest one-day jump in over five weeks. That apart, German and French indices added 1.3% each.

Earlier, MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.8%, dragged down by Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and China's benchmark CSI300 Index.

At 4:10 pm, the Dow Jones Futures were 45 points or 0.15% lower indicating a flat start to indices on Wall Street later today.