RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 4 pc, maintains accommodative stance

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent and maintained the policy stance at accommodative.

The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) made a unanimous decision to maintain status-quo after a three-day meeting that began on December 2.

India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 95.71 lakh,while the total number of people who have recuperated from the disease crossed 90 lakhpushing the national recovery rate to 94.20 per cent,accordingto the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to95,71,559 with 36,595 new infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,39,188 with 540 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Shares of UltraTech Cement surged 4 per cent to hit a fresh record high in the early morning trade on the BSE on Friday. The stock crossed Rs 5,000 mark to scale the peak of Rs 5,104 after the company said its board has approved increasing the firm's capacity by 12.8 mtpa (MT), with a mix of brown field and green field expansion at a capex of Rs 5,477 crore. The company surpassed its previous high of Rs 4,998, touched on December 2, 2020.

The additional capacity will be created in the fast-growing markets of the east, central and north regions in the country, UltraTech Cement said in a press release.

The counting of votes for the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) election began on Friday morning.

As per early trends, BJP has taken a lead and both TRS and Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM are trailing behind.

After campaigning by regional and national political parties, voting for the GHMC elections was held in 150 wards on December 1.

Britain will be the first country in the West to roll out a Covid-19 vaccine, beating the United States and Europe in a race to control the pandemic that has left close to 1.5 million dead globally. UK’s drug authority—Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)--on Wednesday granted an emergency licence to the antidote developed by American pharma major Pfizer along with Germany’s BioNTech, inspiring confidence in people and economies around the world after a year of extreme pain and losses.

Gold price today jumped to Rs 51,610 from Rs 51,320 per 10 gm, while silver was trending at Rs 62,400 per kg, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery prices vary across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making changes.

The chief advisor of the US Covid-19 vaccine development programme is confident that at least 100 million people would have got coronavirus shots by the end of February 2021 and this operation would have covered the entire at risk population comprising the elderly, frontline workers and those with comorbidities.

Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Moncef Slaoui said he hopes to have emergency use authorization for at least one vaccine by December 10 or 11.

The Centre is scheduled to meet the representatives of protesting farmers on December 3 for a crucial round of talks over the agricultural laws passed earlier this year. A similar meeting that took place on December 1 failed to make any progress.

Farmers, particularly from Punjab and Haryana, have been agitating over these laws since they were passed. They headed towards New Delhi last week to register their protest and demand their repeal from the central government.

The UN World Health Organization has warned people to maintain social distancing and other norms to restrict the spread of Covid-19, as it believes that there will not be enough quantities of coronavirus vaccines in the next three to six months to prevent a surge of infections.

'We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months,' WHO top emergency expert Mike Ryan told a social media event.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said the board examinations of 2021 will be conducted in the conventional written mode, adding there was no proposal to conduct the exams online, news agency IANS reported.

The board examinations of 2021 will be in the regular written manner and not online, the CBSE stated.

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