Indian share markets hit a fresh record high today as Covid-19 vaccine approvals boosted investor sentiment.

Gaining over 1% during the day, the Sensex crossed the 46,000-mark, while the Nifty topped the 13,500-level for the first time ever.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 495 points (up 1.1%).

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 136 points (up 1%).

Asian Paints and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top gainers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 13,567, up by 138 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.4%, and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.5%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the banking sector, FMCG sector, and energy sector.

Asian stock markets ended higher today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 0.8% and the Shanghai Composite ended down 1.1%. The Nikkei ended up by 1.3%.

US stock futures are trading marginally higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 11 points (up 0.1%), while Dow Futures are trading up by 87 points (up 0.3%).

The rupee is trading at 73.54 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.8% at Rs 49,731 per 10 grams.

Here are Top 5 Factors Why Sensex and Nifty Hit Fresh Record Highs Today

Vaccine Approvals: India's federal health secretary said on Tuesday the country may approve some coronavirus vaccines over the next few weeks and an estimated 300 million people would be inoculated in the first tranche.

Meanwhile, Pfizer Inc cleared the next hurdle in the race for its Covid-19 vaccine emergency approval in the United States after the drug regulator released documents that raised no new issues about its safety or efficacy.

Stimulus Package: The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed a package worth US$ 916 billion including liability protections and state and local government aids.

FII Inflows: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been on a buying spree. The low-interest-rate environment, globally, and risk-on trade are driving capital flows into emerging markets, including India. The recent adjustment in the MSCI Index also aided the sentiment.

Firm Global Cues: Global share markets traded firm after Britain started mass-vaccinating its people using a fully-tested Covid-19 shot and as Johnson & Johnson said it could obtain late-stage trial results for a single-dose vaccine earlier than expected.

All Sectoral Indices in Green: Barring the power sector, all sectoral indices ended on a positive note. Energy, banking, and FMCG stocks witnessed most of the buying interest.

In the latest developments from the IPO space, as per a leading financial daily, Mrs Bectors Food Specialities, a premium biscuit-maker and leading supplier of buns to fast-food chains such as Burger King and McDonald's, will launch its Rs 5.5 billion initial public offering (IPO) on December 16.

The primary market offering will be open for three days from December 16 to December 18, 2020. The shares are likely to be listed on the bourses on December 29.

Mrs Bectors Food is making its second attempt at tapping the primary markets for its funding requirements. It had secured the market regulator's nod for an IPO in 2018 but chose to defer its plans due to market conditions at that time.

The company will use the IPO funds to expand its manufacturing unit at Rajpura in Punjab and for general corporate purposes.

SBI Capital, ICICI Securities, and IIFL Capital are the lead managers to the public issue of Mrs Bectors Food.

The above move comes close on the heels of the Burger King IPO, which was oversubscribed 157 times.

How this IPO sails through remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Heritage Foods was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Heritage Foods advanced over 16% on the BSE after the company sold its entire stake in Future Retail for about Rs 1.3 billion to pare debt.

"The Company has disposed of its entire holdings/investment of 17.85 million equity shares held in Future Retail. These shares were sold through Stock Exchange in Open Market in various tranches and the net amount of Rs 131.94 crore was received by the company," the company said in an exchange filing.

The company said that proceeds will be utilized for the repayment of term loans.

In November 2016, Future Group had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Hyderabad-based dairy and retails enterprise, Heritage Foods, in an all-stock deal.

As a part of the deal, Heritage Foods got 3.65% share-holding in Future Retail through fresh issuance of shares.

Heritage Foods' share price ended the day up by 16.3%.

Moving on to news from the defense sector, shares of defense equipment makers witnessed buying interest today after the government issued a notification regarding changes in the Foreign Exchange Management Act allowing FDI of up to 74% in such production through automatic route.

As per the new policy, the increased FDI limit can go beyond 74% wherever it is likely to result in access to modern technology or for other reasons that should be recorded.

This increased limit will be applicable subject to industrial license under the Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951, and manufacturing of small arms and ammunition under the Arms Act, 1959.

As per the notification, infusion of fresh foreign investment up to 49% in a company not seeking an industrial license or which already has government approval for FDI in the defense shall submit a declaration with the Ministry of Defence in case of a change or transfer of stake to a new investor.

Earlier this year in September, the Central government had increased the FDI limit in the defense sector from 49% to 74% under automatic route and beyond 74% through the government route with a view to attracting overseas investors.

Hindustan Aeronautics share price gained as much as 3% while Bharat Dynamics share price rose over 4%.

Bharat Electronics share price zoomed 8% to Rs 123 - its 52-week high on the BSE in intra-day trade.

Speaking of the defense sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the top 5 military spending countries in the world as of 2019:

According to a SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) report, India was the third-largest military spending country in the world in 2019.