A single-day rise of 18,454 fresh cases pushed India's COVID-19 tally to 3,41,27,450, while the number of active infections rose to 1,78,831, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll from the pandemic climbed to 4,52,811 with the addition of 160 fatalities, showed the data updated at 8 am.

India completed administering 1 billion doses (100 crore) of Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday: an event the government is celebrating with a song, promotional film and announcements on airplanes, ships and railway stations.

Congratulations India! This is the result of the leadership of our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Twitter at 9:48am.

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a total fine of Rs 50 lakh on three entities and two individuals and also restrained them from accessing securities markets for one year for indulging in fraudulent trading in the scrip of Asian Granito India Ltd.

The entities are Pasha Finance Pvt, Pat Financial Consultant Pvt Ltd and Hridaynath Consultancy Pvt Ltd, while the individuals facing the penalty are Minal Bharat Patel and Ruchit Bharat Patel.

India reported an 18 per cent decrease in the new COVID-19 cases along with a 13 per cent decline in the number of deaths during the week of October 11 to 17, the WHO has said, highlighting that all the regions globally, except the European Region, reported a fall in new weekly cases of the deadly virus.

The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, released by the World Health Organisation on Tuesday, said that with just over 2.7 million new cases and over 46,000 new deaths reported during the week of October 11 to 17, the global number of new cases and deaths remained similar to that of the previous week.

India logged 14,623 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,41,08,996, while the active cases declined to 1,78,098, the lowest in 229 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 4,52,651 with 197 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Shares of Bata India hit a record high of Rs 2,202.10, up 4 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday in an otherwise range-bound market on hopes of revival in revenue growth trajectory as and when the impact of the pandemic gets phased out.

Meanwhile, institutional investors led by domestic mutual funds (MFs) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) increased their stake in footwear company during July-September quarter (Q2FY22).

A majority of Americans view that former US president Donald Trump abused his presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power, the White House has said.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference on Tuesday that Trump's actions represented a unique and existential threat to the US democracy that Americans do not feel can be swept under the rug.

Ten gram of 24-carat gold was on Wednesday selling at Rs 47,510, down Rs 560 from yesterday’s trading price. Silver was at Rs 64,200 per kg, up Rs 600 from yesterday’s trading price, according to the Good Returns website.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) slipped 18 per cent to Rs 4,371 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade, amid heavy volumes, falling over 30 per cent in the past two trading days on account of profit booking.

The stock of the state-owned travel support services tanked 32 per cent from its record high level of Rs 6,393 touched in Tuesday’s intra-day trade amid buzz that the government is appointing a regulator for the rail sector.

Shares of Mastek tanked 15 per cent to Rs 2,903 on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade after the company reported muted set of July-September quarter (Q2FY22) numbers. With today's decline, the stock has corrected 21 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 3,666, touched in Tuesday's intra-day trade.

In Q2FY22, the company's dollar revenue increased 2.6 per cent quarter on quarter (QoQ) to $72 million (up 3.9 per cent in constant currency (CC)) while rupee revenue increased 3.4 per cent QoQ at Rs 533 crore.

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