Market Gains for 5th day; Sensex rises 553 points to 41,893 & Nifty 50 closed at 12,264

Domestic equity benchmarks ended near the day's high on Friday, November 6, 2020. The Nifty 50 of the National stock exchange ended above the crucial 12,200 level & Sensex ended near 41,900-mark.

The S&P BSE Sensex spurted 552.90 points or 1.34 per cent at 41,893.06. The Nifty 50 index rose 143.25 points or 1.18 per cent, to close at 12,263.55. Nifty Bank rose 485.85 points, or 1.85 per cent, to end at 26,789.95.

The broader market rallied in-line with the frontline indices. The BSE MidCap index ended 0.36 per cent higher at 15,404.76 points, while the BSE SmallCap index closed the session at 15,218.01, up 0.54 per cent.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1502 shares rose and 1124 shares fell. On similar lines, 29 shares advanced on Nifty 50, while 21 shares declined. Top five shares that advanced were Reliance (up 3.59 per cent), Bajaj Finserv (up 3.50 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 3.28 per cent), HDFC Bank (up 3.06 per cent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 31 per cent). The top five losers were Maruti (down 2.85 per cent), GAIL (down 1.89 per cent), Bharti Airtel (down 1.54 per cent), Asian Paint (down 1.49 per cent) and Grasim (down 1.37 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 4,86,82,146 with 12,33,330 deaths. India reported 5,20,773 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,24,985 deaths while 77,65,966 patients have been discharged, data showed.

US Presidential Election Update

According to the latest count, Democratic Party candidate and former vice president Joe Biden has won 264 electoral votes while President Donald Trump has won 214 electoral votes. Six states namely Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona and Florida, still counting votes. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the election. However, Mr Trump has already filed court cases to challenge the counting of votes in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan. He also wants a recount in Wisconsin, media reports said.

In the Senate, the Republican Party has so far won 48 seats while the Democrats has won 46 seats. Either party needs 51 seats for a majority in the Senate. In the House, the Democrats has won 208 seats so far while the Republican Party has won 193 seats. Either party needs 218 seats for a majority in the House.

US first-claims for unemployment benefits edged down to 751,000 in the week ended October 31, 2020.