In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks rose for second straight session and settled with notable gains on Monday, with Sensex and Nifty recapturing their crucial 44,050 and 12,900 levels respectively. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening, amid sanguine global cues. Sentiments also got a boost with Industry body FICCI's latest quarterly survey on manufacturing showing that India's manufacturing sector is poised to witness recovery in the July-September quarter, even as hiring outlook for the segment remains bleak. The proportion of respondents reporting higher output during July-September rose to 24 per cent, as compared to 10 per cent in the previous quarter. Some support also came as a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs said that Atmanirbhar Bharat provides a vision of India's plans to become a $5 trillion economy by promoting Make in India - Make for World and this will happen through an integration with the global economy. However, volatility witnessed in late morning session as the benchmarks erased initial gains, as investors' feared about government imposing lockdowns again to curb the spread of Covid-19 which has been spreading at a faster pace in cities like Delhi. There was some cautiousness too with report that as many as 437 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of over Rs 4.37 lakh crore. But, buying in index heavyweights like ONGC, Indusind Bank and Infosys helped benchmarks recover and close higher. Adding to the optimism, Fitch Ratings said the government's coronavirus pandemic-driven renewed reform agenda has the potential to raise India's medium-term growth rate. It also noted that raising medium-term growth rates under these circumstances will require reforms to support investment and boost productivity and it will take time to assess whether the reforms are implemented effectively. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 194.90 points or 0.44% to 44,077.15, while the CNX Nifty was up by 67.40 points or 0.52% to 12,926.45.

The US markets ended higher on Monday following reports that President-elect Biden plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen to become the next Treasury Secretary. If confirmed, Yellen would be the first woman to hold the job, but also would be a familiar figure for Wall Street, following her four-year tenure as the head of the Federal Reserve beginning in 2014, during the Obama administration and in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Further support also came as traders reacted positively to additional upbeat reports regarding a potential coronavirus vaccine. AstraZeneca announced its vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent. The drug maker said one dosing regimen showed vaccine efficacy of 90 percent when given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month apart, while another dosing regimen showed 62 percent efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart. Adding to the positive sentiment, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for Regeneron's Covid-19 antibody treatment, while purportedly helped President Donald Trump fend off the disease.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Monday as rising optimism about potential Covid-19 vaccine raised hopes that energy demand will pick up soon. After recent encouraging updates on the vaccine front, the Oxford University and British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced that their vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective under one dosing regimen. Meanwhile, traders also bet on hopes that OPEC and other major oil producers will consider extending the curb on crude production by another few months. OPEC meets on November 30 and December 1 and it appears traders have already factored in a three-month delay of production increases. Crude oil futures for January rose $0.64 or about 1.5 percent to settle at $43.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent crude gained $0.90 or 2 percent to settle at $45.87 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Monday, on selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders were taking support with Fitch Ratings stating that the government's coronavirus pandemic-driven renewed reform agenda has the potential to raise India's medium-term growth rate. Some support also came as a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs said that Atmanirbhar Bharat provides a vision of India's plans to become a $5 trillion economy by promoting Make in India - Make for World and this will happen through an integration with the global economy. However, gains remain capped as investors fret about surging Covid-19 cases worldwide. On the global front, dollar eased on Monday as the prospect of an early rollout of coronavirus vaccines offset concerns about economic restrictions to control the spread of the virus, favouring risk assets for the moment. Finally, the rupee ended at 74.11, 5 paise stronger from its previous close of 74.16 on Friday.

The FIIs as per Monday's data were net buyer in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11087.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 7187.14 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 554.51 crore with gross sales of Rs 193.35 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 23.60 crore against gross selling of Rs 28.46 crore.

The US markets closed in green on Monday boosted by positive vaccine news. Asian markets are trading higher on Tuesday as Covid-19 vaccine progress shored up global sentiment and US President-elect Joe Biden was given the go-ahead to begin his White House transition. Indian markets ended higher on Monday helped by gains in IT and energy stocks. Today, the start of session is likely to be flat-to-positive amid positive global cues on hopes of COVID-19 vaccine. AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine, cheaper to make, easier to distribute and faster to scale-up than its rivals, could be as much as 90 per cent effective. Traders will be taking encouragement with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that unprecedented reforms undertaken on both governance and economic fronts by the government will usher in a new era of growth and prosperity. Kant also stressed the need to increase expenditure on research and development and strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR) laws. Some support will come as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the industry that momentum of economic reforms will continue to make India a hotspot of global investment. Traders may take note of Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian's statement that India is likely to report a current account surplus in the current financial year ending in March 2021, mainly because of a moderation in imports in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic-led economic slowdown. However, traders may be concerned as India reported 37,329 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 9,177,641. The country's death toll has mounted to 134,251. There may be some cautiousness with S&P Global Ratings' statement that the recommendations made by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) working group on allowing corporate ownership in banks given India's weak corporate governance amid large corporate defaults over the past few years pose a potential risk. Stocks of diagnostic and healthcare tests firms will be in focus after the Maharashtra government said all air and rail passengers arriving from Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Goa need to carry Covid-19 test report before entering the state. There will be some reaction in insurance stocks with a private report that non-life insurers have seen a 14.5 per cent increase in premium collection in the health segment between April and October this year, reflecting the need for health insurance in the country grappling with a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• HUL's parent company -- Unilever is planning to introduce its mouthwash formulation in India, which, it claims, will reduce 99.9 per cent of coronavirus after 30 seconds of rinsing. 
• HDFC's JV -- HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company and NSDL Payments Bank have entered into partnership to offer a whole range of general insurance products to the bank's customers. 
• Bharti Airtel's subsidiary -- Airtel Digital TV and Vedantu have entered into partnership to make quality education accessible to students across India by leveraging the deep reach of Airtel. 
• Bajaj Finance's wholly owned subsidiary -- BHFL has declared a reduction in its Home Loan acquisition rates for new customers.