1. Asia: Asia-Pacific markets traded higher on Wednesday as a coronavirus vaccine rollout commenced in the U.K., fueling some of the optimism among investors. The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.94 percent and the Topix index was up 0.62 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index gained 1.04 percent after market open. In Australia, the ASX 200 rose 0.79 percent with most sectors trading higher. The session in Asia follows gains overnight on Wall Street where stocks rose to fresh all-time highs — the S&P 500 closed above 3,700 for the first time, reported CNBC International. (Image: Reuters)
2. US: U.S. stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading on Tuesday, building on recent strength that’s pushed the major averages to record highs. Dow futures rose 77 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.19 percent and 0.16 percent, respectively. Fueling the rally is optimism about the U.K.’s rollout of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday. Hope that the Senate will soon agree to a stimulus package to prop up markets as the coronavirus outbreak rages on has also boosted sentiment, reported CNBC International. (Image: AP)
3. Closing Bell On Tuesday: Indian benchmark equity indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended higher on Tuesday led by strong gains in heavyweight IT stocks and PSU Banks amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended 181.54 points or 0.40 percent higher at 45,608.51, while the Nifty gained 37.20 points or 0.28 percent to close at 13,392.95. Broader indices underperformed as the Nifty Smallcap100 and the Nifty Midcap100, ended flat. The Nifty Bank advanced 50 points to 30,262. (Image: Reuters)
4. Crude Oil: Oil moved lower on Tuesday as California tightened its pandemic lockdown through Christmas and COVID-19 cases surged in the United States and Europe, counteracting optimism that arose over vaccine advancements. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, lower at $45.60 per barrel. Brent crude gained 7 cents to trade at $48.86 a barrel, reported CNBC International. (Image: Reuters)
5. Rupee: The Indian currency surged by 30 paise to settle at 73.60 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, buoyed by foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.83 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.59 and a low of 73.83, reported PTI. (Image: Reuters)
6. Govt Could Exceed FY21 Budget Target: Centre will incur a higher expenditure than what it had budgeted on February 1 for the financial year 2020-21, sources tell CNBC-TV18. They said that the quarterly data has probably been misread and the past expenditure trends can’t be applied to this year’s government spend. Sources also indicate that the normal spending restrictions that kick in the last quarter of every fiscal will not be applicable this year, as the ministries still have time to spend in the next 3 months. “Expenditure will exceed the budget estimate”, they said. The government had estimated FY21 spending at Rs 30.42 lakh crore and 55 percent of this has been exhausted by October-end, as against over 59 percent spent in the corresponding period of last year. (Stock Image)
7. Bill Gates On Pandemic: The idea of financial inclusion is not a new one, it gained currency since 2015 when at the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group there was a commitment made to nurture the idea of universal access and take that forward by 2020, said Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. In fact it got further support in the G20 in 2017 when measurable commitments were added in terms of the action agenda to take financial inclusion forward. It is a trying time for the global economy as the pandemic continues to rage on and that has widened the inequities across a whole bunch of different sectors. This is also the time for the governments and the private sector to look at ways to collaborate to ensure that they deliver on the idea of inclusion. (Image: Reuters)
8. Government On COVID Vaccine Developers: Centre has said that some COVID vaccine developers may get go ahead for emergency use in the next few weeks. Pfizer, Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute have already knocked on the drug regulator's door seeking emergency use authorisation for their respective vaccines. The government is also clear that the vaccines will require 2-3 doses with three-four weeks apart. (Image: Reuters)
9. Burger King IPO: Quick-service restaurant chain Burger King India's initial public offer's (IPO) allotment will be finalized today. Retail investors can check their allotment status on BSE as well as LinkinTime (registrar). It would be the fourteenth IPO in the current year. The price band of the IPO is fixed at Rs 59-60. The shares are likely to list on December 14. The share sale was subscribed a massive 156.65 times, receiving bids for 11,66,93,73,500 shares as against 7,44,91,524 shares on offer. In fact, the IPO was fully oversubscribed within a few hours on the first day of bidding. With the funds raised via the IPO , the company intends to utilise the fresh proceeds to finance the roll-out of new company-owned Burger King restaurants and to meet the general corporate purposes. (Stock Image)
10. BharatPe Topples Google Pay In UPI Space: BharatPe, a merchant payments company, has become the third largest player in the merchant UPI payment acceptance space. The company has recorded Rs 3,334 crore (US$ 479 million) in transaction value for the month of November, displacing Google Pay from third position. According to BharatPe, it processed 6.15 crore transactions in November 2020. The company, in a statement said it has been outgrowing the market and has doubled its market share in the UPI P2M merchant payment acceptance category since April 2020. (Source: Unsplash)