The benchmark stock indices have opened the week on a positive note once again fueled by vaccine hopes.Join us as we follow the top business news through the day.10:00 AMShares gain amid vaccine hopes; Reliance leads packThe vaccine boost to stocks persists.Reuters reports: “Indian shares rose on Monday as hopes for imminent coronavirus vaccines helped boost global investor sentiment, while Reliance Industries led gains domestically after winning regulatory approval for a $3.4 billion deal.The NSE Nifty 50 index was up 0.49% at 12,929.15 by 0400 GMT. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.51% to 44,105.39.The first COVID-19 vaccines could be given to U.S. healthcare workers and others recommended by mid-December, a top health official said on Sunday, helping Asian stock markets trade higher on Monday.In India, Reliance Industries advanced 3% after the country’s competition watchdog approved its deal to buy Future Group’s retail assets.”9:30 AMModi says India set to double oil refining capacity in 5 years, earlier than expectedIndia plans to nearly double its oil refining capacity in the next five years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, offering a much more aggressive timeline than previously despite the coronavirus pandemic blighting the economy.The country’s energy minister was quoted http://www.ficci.in/ficci-in-news-page.asp?nid=23094 in June as saying India’s oil refining capacity could jump to 450-500 million tonnes in 10 years from the current level of about 250 million tonnes.But addressing a petroleum university’s convocation, Modi said “work is being done to nearly double the country’s oil refining capacity in the next five years”.The convocation was also addressed virtually by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, whose Reliance Industries Ltd operates the world’s biggest oil refinery in Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
