International Finance Corporation, member of the World Bank Group, is investing USD 16.5 million (around Rs 123 crore) in genetic diagnostics and research company MedGenome to increase access to COVID-19 testing in India.

The partnership, apart from increasing the access to COVID-19 testing, will also support research to better help understand the virus, its variants and manage future outbreaks, IFC and MedGenome said in a statement on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh's handling of the second wave of Covid-19 cases was unparalleled, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday during a visit to his constituency of Varanasi.

Kashi (Varanasi) has shown that it doesn’t stop in troubled times. Coronavirus attacked Kasi and Uttar Pradesh (UP) but the state fought back, he said a day after the Supreme Court sent a notice to the state government for allowing the Kanwar Yatra from next week despite the Covid-19 threat.

India recorded 41,806 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to 3,09,87,880, while the active cases increased to 4,32,041, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

An increase of 2,095 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The COVID-19 curve in the US is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings.

Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Shares of information technology (IT) companies continued their northward movement for the second day in a row, with Nifty IT index hitting a new high on Thursday, after Mindtree and L&T Technology Services (LTTS) reported strong earnings for the quarter ended June 2021 (Q1FY22). Their large-cap counterpart Infosys, too, has raised its revenue growth guidance for financial year 2021-22 (FY22) which buoyed the overall sentiment.

Nifty IT index hit a new high of 29,745 in the intra-day trade today, having rallied nearly 5 per cent in the past two trading days.

Shares of KNR Constructions (KNRCL) rose 5 per cent to Rs 254.35 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after CRISIL Ratings revised its outlook on the long-term bank facilities of the company to 'Positive' from 'Stable' and reaffirmed the rating at 'CRISIL AA-'. The stock of the construction and engineering company had hit a 52-week high of Rs 260 on June 30, 2021.

The revision in outlook factors in expected improvement in scale of operations in KNRCL’s business risk profile with the sustenance of revenue growth of over 15 per cent annually in the medium term while maintaining its healthy financial risk profile, CRISIL said in a rating rationale.

Shares of private lender RBL Bank declined 3.1 per cent to Rs 212 a piece on the BSE on Thursday after banking regulator Reserve bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday barred global card player Mastercard Asia/Pacific Pte Ltd from onboarding new domestic customers on its network from July 22 over non-compliance with local data storage guidelines.

RBL Bank currently issues credit cards only on Mastercard payment network and has approximately 3 million credit card customers.

Shares of L&T Technology Services (LTTS) zoomed 15 per cent to a record high of Rs 3,345 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected June quarter (Q1FY22) results.

The stock of the internet software and services company surpassed its previous high of Rs 3,062.45 hit on April 9, 2021. A combined 2.1 million shares had changed hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE as of 9.45 am. At the same time, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.27 per cent at 53,046 points.

Shares of Infosys hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,597.25, up 1.3 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Thursday, after the country’s second-largest information technology (IT) services player on Wednesday raised its revenue growth guidance for financial year 2021-22 (FY22) buoyed by a robust deal pipeline.

The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,590.85 touched on June 30, 2021. In the past one year, Infosys has outperformed the market by zooming 103 per cent, as compared to a 47 per cent rally in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Cadila Healthcare on Thursday said its wholly-owned subsidiary Zydus Animal Health and Investment has completed sale of its animal healthcare established markets undertaking to Multiples Alternate Asset Management-led consortium for Rs 2,921 crore.

The transaction of sale and disposal is completed /closed today i.e. July 14, 2021, Cadila Healthcare said in a regulatory filing.

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