Indian share markets continued their momentum throughout the day and ended on a strong note.

Benchmark indices extended gains as the session progressed, tracking global peers on hopes of US stimulus. Global shares rose on renewed hopes for fresh US stimulus measures, but mounting uncertainty ahead of America's presidential election and technical problems in Japan kept gains in check.

Market participants also took cues from India's factory activity, that expanded at its fastest pace in over eight years in September as a relaxation in coronavirus lockdown restrictions drove a surge in demand and output.

Sentiment also got a boost as the government announced guidelines to open more activities outside containment zones from October 1. They include cinema halls, sports activities, entertainment parks and B2B exhibitions.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 629 points (up 1.7%).

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 169 points (up 1.5%).

IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the top gainers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 11,450, up by 193 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.7%.

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

Auto stocks also witnessed buying interest after a few companies reported encouraging auto sales numbers.

In Asia, markets in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were closed for a holiday today.

US stock futures are trading higher, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 118 points (up 1.1%), while Dow Futures are trading up by 235 points (up 0.9%).

The rupee is trading at 73.14 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 50,300 per 10 grams.

In news from the IPO space, state-owned defense company Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders' initial public offer witnessed strong demand since day one. At the time of writing, the issue was subscribed to 139.5 times.

The public issue received bids for 4,268.2 million equity shares against the offered size of 30.6 million equity shares.

Non-institutional investors increased their bids significantly on the final day as their reserved portion has oversubscribed by 612 times.

Retail investors have been active in bidding from day one as the portion set aside for these investors has seen 33.5 times subscription.

Mazagon Dock IPO was supposed to launch in September 2019, but the plan was shelved due to low demand.

In other news, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals opened with a bumper 115% premium over issue price, beating Happiest Minds, IRCTC and Avenue Supermarts.

The stock listed at Rs 730.95 per share on the BSE, against its issue price of Rs 340 per share.

However, after a strong opening, Chemcon Speciality Chemicals share price witnessed some profit booking at higher levels despite a strong market trend.

Technology-driven financial infrastructure and service provider Computer Age Management Services, on the other hand, started off the first day on a strong note by listing with a 23.4% premium over issue price on October 1.

The stock opened at Rs 1,518 per share on the BSE, against the issue price of Rs 1,230.

Moving on to news from the automobile sector, Bajaj Auto was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Bajaj Auto share price rallied over 8% to Rs 3,112 on the BSE today after reporting a better-than-expected 10% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its total September sales at 441,306 units, on the back of its highest-ever export sales.

The two- and three-wheeler manufacturer had sold 402,035 units in the year-ago period.

Overall, two-wheeler sales saw a jump of 20% to 408,851 units in September as against 336,730 units in the same month last year.

Exports of two-wheelers stood at 185,351 units last month, marking a rise of 16% as compared to 159,382 units in September last year.

In August, the auto major had reported a 9% YoY fall in its total sales at 356,199 units as compared to 390,026 units in the same period a year ago.

In other news, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported a 30.8% increase in total sales at 1,60,442 units in September. The company had sold 1,22,640 units in September last year.

Domestic sales increased by 32.2% to 1,52,608 units last month, as against 1,15,452 units in September 2019.

Sales of mini cars comprising Alto and S-Presso stood at 27,246 units as compared to 20,085 units in the same month last year, up 35.7%.

Exports in September increased by 9% to 7,834 units compared to 7,188 units in the corresponding month last year.

Maruti Suzuki's share price ended the day up by 0.8%.

Speaking of the automobile sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE Auto index for the month of September since inception.

The BSE auto index ended in the red on only 3 out of the last 15 years for the month of September. That's a success ratio of 80%.

The auto index has entered the greed phase in September 2019 and will stay there until December 2021. This means there is still a lot of fuel left for auto stocks.

How automobile stocks perform in the coming months remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more updates from this space.