Sensex closes 180 points up, Glenmark Pharma jumps 27 pc

Sensex closes 180 points up, Glenmark Pharma jumps 27 pc

Equity benchmark indices wiped out early gains but closed over half a per cent higher on Monday led by gains in banking, pharma and metal stocks.

The rising tension between India and China besides a spike in fresh COVID-19 cases turned investors cautious.

At the closing bell, the BSE S-P Sensex was up by 180 points or 0.52 per cent at 34,911 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 67 points or 0.65 per cent at 10,311.

Among stocks, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals surged by 27.06 per cent to Rs 519.80 per share after it became the first pharmaceutical company in India to receive regulatory approval to make and sell oral antiviral drug favipiravir for treating mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infections.

Cipla's stock jumped by 2.9 per cent to Rs 655.80 per unit after it announced the launch of remdesivir under its brand name Cipremi.

Bajaj Auto gained by 7 per cent while Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv climbed up by 5.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent respectively.

Kotak Mahindra Bank gained by 4.4 per cent to close at Rs 1,360 per share.

However, those which lost were Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Mahindra and Mahindra, GAIL, ONGC and HDFC.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks held flat while trying to shake off worries that rising coronavirus cases in the United States could slow down a quick economic rebound from the downturn triggered by the pandemic.

Japan's Nikkei fell by 0.18 per cent while mainland Chinese stocks dropped by 0.08 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.54 per cent.