AstraZeneca CEO Expects to Conduct New Global COVID-19 Vaccine Trial: Report
AstraZeneca is likely to conduct an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine using a lower dose, its CEO said Thursday amid questions about the results of its late-stage study. Instead of adding the trial to an ongoing US process, AstraZeneca could launch a new study to test a lower dose of its vaccine that worked better than a full dose, Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg News. “Now that we’ve found what looks like better efficacy, we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study,” he said, adding that the new study, probably global, could be faster because it would need fewer subjects. since the efficiency was known to be high. More here
Market Watch: Mehraboon J Irani, MD and CEO, Gini Gems Consultants
Tata Steel
“For Tata Steel, even from the current level after the steep rally we have seen for the last 10-15 days and even yesterday, I would not be surprised if the stocks were at least another 10-15 percent higher. Now, at current levels, whether short-term traders or investors should buy is a tough decision. But if you ask me, maybe over the next 6 to 9 months, it won’t surprise me if you see the returns coming over the next 6 to 9 months, another 10-15 percent from here. ”
FMCG
“So even though valuations here and there have gotten expensive, investors could again use a correction as a buying opportunity.”
Opening bell: Sensex opens on a flat note, Nifty below 13,000; IT stocks fall
Indian indices opened flat on Friday following moderate trends in Asian pairs. Sentiment was weighed out by new doubts about a long-awaited coronavirus vaccine. At 9:17 am, the Sensex was down 20 points to 44,229 while the Nifty was up 1 point to 12,988. Losses in TI, banking stocks and heavyweight RIL dragged down the indices. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks: the Nifty Midcap was up 0.7 percent and the Nifty Smallcap up 0.4 percent. All sectors, wait for Nifty IT, were also positive for the day. Nifty Auto was up more than 1 percent, while Nifty Pharma added 0.5 percent. The banking and financial services indices were also green but flat. In the Nifty50 index, NTPC, GAIL, Tata Motors, Britannia and Asian Paints were the main winners, while Powergrid, Hindalco, TCS, RIL and Infosys led the losses.
Peter Kerkar of Cox & Kings Arrested for ED in Money Laundering Case
The Directorate of Enforcement arrested the Cox travel company and Kings promoter Peter Kerkar in an alleged money laundering case, according to reports. In October, the DE arrested Cox & Kings Group CFO Anil Khandelwal and Naresh Jain’s internal auditor, under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), in connection with the case of Yes Bank. An ED official said: “During the investigation into the money laundering case, it has emerged that Yes Bank has a total outstanding of Rs 3,642 crore with respect to the Cox & Kings Group of Companies (CKG).” The ED official also said that during the investigation, it was also revealed that Yes Bank’s loan sanction was prompted by then-CMD Rana Kapoor and was granted without going through the rules. More here
Sputnik V developers ask AstraZeneca to try to combine vaccine with theirs
Adding more color to the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, the developers of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine candidate asked AstraZeneca to experiment with combining vaccines with their own. Russian vaccine developers in a tweet late Thursday said that AstraZeneca should try to combine its experimental injection with Russian Sputnik V to increase efficacy and that the combination of vaccines may prove important for revaccination. Sputnik V’s comment came on the heels of reports that AstraZeneca is likely to conduct an additional global trial to assess the efficacy of its lower dose regimen of its vaccine. Bloomberg News quoted AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot as saying that it is looking to run an additional global test rather than adding a test arm to its ongoing tests in the US, after questions arose about the results of its last stage study. More here
India’s second quarter GDP data to be released today: CNBC-TV18 survey expects economy to contract -8.9%
The Union Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) on Friday (November 27) will announce the gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the second quarter (July-September 2020) of the current financial year (fiscal year 2020 -twenty-one). A CNBC-TV18 poll shows that the Indian economy is likely to contract 8.9 percent during this period. While that’s a significant pullback from the 23.9 percent contraction in the first quarter, it will mean that India has entered a technical recession for the first time. Watch the video for more
First, here is a quick update on what happened in the markets on Thursday
India’s benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed 1 percent higher on Thursday, driven by strong gains in metals and banking stocks. At the close, the Sensex was up 431.64 points or 0.98% to 44,259.74, and the Nifty was up 128.60 points or 1.00% to 12.987. All industry indices finished in green led by Nifty Metal which was up more than 4 percent. The rally in index heavyweights such as Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and the HDFC twins helped Nifty end the November F&O series near the 13,000 level. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Finance, and Shree Cements were the top Nifty winners.
Welcome to the CNBC-TV18 Market Live blog
Good morning readers! This is Pranati Deva from the market desk of CNBC-TV18. Welcome to our market blog, where we provide live news coverage of the latest events in the stock market, business and the economy. We’ll also get instant reactions and guests from our stellar lineup of television guests and editors, researchers, and internal reporters. If you are an investor, we wish you a great trading day. Good luck!
