Indian shares rebound as govt speeds up vaccine approvals

BENGALURU: Indian shares ended more than 1% higher on Tuesday after the government moved to fast-track approvals for foreign COVID-19 vaccines, with beaten-down financial stocks leading the gains.

India is to fast-track emergency approvals for shots already approved in Western countries and Japan, paving the way for possible imports of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Moderna vaccines.

The news comes as the country battles a massive second wave of the virus that has spurred fresh restrictions in some parts and threatened to derail a nascent economic recovery.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 1.36% higher at 14,504.80 and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 1.38% higher at 48,544.06, rebounding after surging infections pushed the indexes to their second-worst session this year on Monday.

"The rising COVID cases have been the biggest source of nervousness in the markets, so the speeding up of (vaccine) approval is clearly helpful," said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets in Mumbai.

"There was also good value in buying after yesterday's correction," she added.

Beaten-down state-run banks gained 4.4% and were among the top sectoral gainers. The index had dropped 9% in the previous session.

Automotive stocks also surged over 4%, with Tata Motors rising 5.7% after sales at its Jaguar Land Rover unit surged.

Metal stocks advanced 3.4% after benchmark iron ore prices surged on falling supplies from major miners and strong demand.

Bucking the trend, IT services stocks fell 3.3%. Heavyweight TCS fell 4.4% as investors locked in gains from the stock's 10% jump this year.