​​​​​Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended higher.

Benchmark indices snapped their three-day losing run and closed over 1% higher today, as signs of a strong corporate earnings season and expectations that the central banks will stick to a dovish stance, at least in the near-term, lifted demand for risky equities.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 639 points (up 1.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 192 points (up 1.2%).

JSW Steel and Tech Mahindra were among the top gainers today.

Hindustan Unilever and Asian Paints, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,820, up by 210 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up 1.5%.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the telecom sector, metal sector, and engineering sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Apollo Hospitals and Tech Mahindra hit their respective 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.47 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 47,410 per 10 grams.

Here are 4 Factors That Helped the Market Rally

Positive Global Cues: Major global markets rose today and the positive sentiment spilled to the Indian bourses too.

Asian stocks climbed today after solid company earnings boosted Wall Street, easing concerns about peak economic growth and coronavirus flareups.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

The Nikkei ended up by 0.6% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 85 points (up 0.3%).

Bond Yields: Yields climbed partly due to positive corporate earnings, as investors largely overlooked apprehension about the Delta coronavirus variant and inflation and bought risky assets.

June Quarter Earnings in Line: The June quarter earnings are broadly in line with analysts' estimates.

Asian Paint's excellent numbers indicate that there are pockets of business coming out with flying colors in these pandemic times.

The country's largest fast-moving consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever (HUL) today reported 9.6% growth on its net profit at Rs 20.6 bn for the April-June quarter on a year on year (YoY) basis.

Bajaj Auto and UltraTech Cement delivered a strong set of numbers for the first quarter of the financial year 2022.

In news from the auto sector, Bajaj Auto was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Bajaj Auto's April to June quarter standalone net profit jumped 101.2% year on year (YoY) to Rs 10.6 bn in the first quarter of 2022, on the back of healthy exports and low base of last year.

It had clocked a net profit of Rs 5.3 bn in the previous year period.

Sequentially, the profit slumped 20.3% from Rs 13.3 bn reported in the fourth quarter of 2021 as the quarter saw limited economic activity and fewer sales dispatches domestically due to state-specific lockdowns amid the second wave of Covid-19.

On a consolidated basis, the profit after tax (PAT) grew to Rs 11.7 bn from Rs 4 bn YoY but down from Rs 15.5 bn logged in the last quarter of 2021

Separately, the company announced the formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary to venture into the electric mobility segment.

The company's board of directors at its meeting held today has approved the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

The wholly-owned subsidiary will leverage the growth opportunities in the evolving mobility space and will help the company venture into the manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles in the 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler, and light 4-wheeler categories.

Bajaj Auto's share price ended the day down by 1.2% on the BSE.

Speaking of electric vehicles, note that the power ministry has approved setting up 2,636 electric vehicle charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states.

Moving on to news from the finance sector...

U GRO Capital Ties with Bank of Baroda for Rs 10 Bn MSME Co-lending

U GRO Capital has announced the launch of a co-lending partnership for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) with Bank of Baroda, one of the largest banks in India.

Termed as 'Pratham', the loan disbursements have commenced on the occasion of Bank of Baroda's 114th Foundation Day.

The program has been launched under the Reserve Bank of India's revised co-lending guidelines.

'Pratham', a Rs 10 bn co-lending program will allow the MSMEs to avail customized lending solutions at a competitive rate of interest with a significant reduction in turn-around time.

The loan amount ranges from Rs 5 m to Rs 25 m to be offered at an interest rate starting from 8% with a maximum tenure of 120 months.

Speaking on this partnership, Shachindra Nath, Executive Chairman, and Managing Director, U GRO Capital said,

• It gives us immense pleasure to launch one of our most significant programs 'Pratham' and sign the co-lending agreement with Bank of Baroda under RBI's revised guidelines.
  
  It is a reiteration of the value and trust that the bank places on our ability to leverage sectoral expertise and technology to solve the unsolved credit need of the MSMEs.
  
  We look forward to nurturing this essential relationship in our bid to support more MSMEs in the remotest locations, to help them revive and grow.

The program is accessible to MSMEs across 200+ channel touch-points around nine locations - Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

U GRO Capital share price ended the day up by 5.3% on the BSE.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest news from this space.