Indian share markets extended their rally seen this week and ended at record-high levels today with pharma and banking stocks leading the gains.

The BSE Sensex ended above the 50,000-mark for the first time today.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 458 points (up 0.9%).

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 142 points (up 0.9%).

IndusInd Bank and Power Grid were among the top gainers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,813, up by 86 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.4%, and the BSE Small Cap index ended higher by 1.5%.

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

Asian stock markets ended higher today.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 0.2% and the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.5%. The Nikkei ended higher by 1%.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 37 points (up 0.1%).

The rupee is trading at 72.96 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 47,749 per 10 grams.

In global markets, silver attempted a rebound today after an over 8% plunge in the previous session prompted some buying.

Spot silver rose 1.4% to US$ 26.98 an ounce. Prices hit US$ 30.03 on Monday, its highest since February 2013.

Silver rocketed to their highest since 2013 on Monday after small investors responded to calls on Reddit and other social media to pile into the market and push prices up.

The amount of silver traded in the London market surged to 1.006 billion ounces on Monday, three times the level typical in recent months, the London Bullion Market Association said on Tuesday.

Also, speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that the BSE Sensex crossed the historical milestone of 50,000 last month on 21 January.

The BSE Sensex rose from a 40,000-mark hit on October 8, 2020, to 50,000 in just 74 sessions. Developments on the vaccine front, a change of guard in the United States, FII buying, and recovery in economic growth are the key factors behind this rally.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2021 this week and the markets gave a huge thumbs up to the measures announced.

The Sensex rallied over 2,300 points on budget day and ended 1,197 points higher yesterday.

The index had lost over 3,500 points in the six sessions before the Budget, but the massive rally on the Budget day, followed by extended gains today lifted the benchmark index to the same level.

Our editors have been pointing out for many weeks now about the risky nature of the market as COVID-19 remains an overhang and the economic outlook remains uncertain.

Have a look at the two charts below, in the order, they have been placed.

Near Term Volatility in Sensex Compensated by Long Term Gains

The year-on-year change in the Sensex was hardly predictable but someone who stayed invested multiplied every lakh nearly 14 times.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Home First Finance was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Home First Finance share price witnessed a bumper listing today. The stock of the company rallied as much as 23% on its first day of trading today largely due to positive market conditions, better IPO subscription numbers, and strong fundamentals.

Affordable housing finance company Home First was founded by Jaithirth Rao, P S Jayakumar, and Manoj Viswanathan and commenced operations in 2010. True North Fund V LLP and Aether (Mauritius) entered the company as promoters. Later, other marquee investors also invested in the company including Warburg Pincus, GIC (Singapore), Bessemer, Alpha TC Holdings.

The company's customers are typically salaried (73% of AUM) who work in small firms or self-employed (25% of AUM) who run small businesses.

From the auto sector, Maruti Suzuki's share price was also in focus today.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki said it has partnered with ALD Automotive India for its subscription program for individual customers.

Through the partnership with ALD Automotive India, the operational leasing and fleet management business line of the Societe Generale Group, the company has expanded the subscription service to Kochi, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.

That company added that customers will pay an all-inclusive monthly subscription charge starting at Rs 12,513 for Wagon R and Rs 13,324 for Ignis in Kochi (including taxes) for a tenure of 48 months.

Maruti Suzuki has been offering the subscription program in eight cities, including Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, and Ahmedabad. Its other partners for the subscription program include Orix Auto Infrastructure Services and Myles Automotive Technologies.

In news from the IPO space...

Brookfield India Real Estate Investment Trust's (REIT) initial public offering (IPO) which opened for subscription today has raised Rs 17.1 billion from anchor investors, where 62.1 million units were subscribed at a bid price of Rs 275 per unit.

The anchor investors included financial institutions such as HDFC AMC, SBI Life, Tata AIG, HDFC Life, Kotak Mahindra AMC, and Bajaj Holdings, among others.

The company owns a portfolio of four office parks located at Noida, Kolkata, Gurugram, and Mumbai with a size of 14 million square feet.

Brookfield REIT will be the third REIT to be listed on the bourses in India, but the only 100% institutionally managed public commercial real estate vehicle.

The issue opens for subscription today and will close on Friday.

Investors can bid for Brookfield India REIT at an issue price of Rs 274 to Rs 275 per unit, translating to a Rs 38 billion issue size. Bids for the REIT can be placed for 200 units or multiples thereafter, with 138.1 million units on offer.

Through the public issue, the real estate trust aims to repay its existing debt.

REITs act as an attractive dividend play as at least 90% of the net distributable cash flows shall be declared and paid once every quarter of a financial year by their manager.

So far, domestic markets have seen Embassy Office Parks REIT in 2019 and Mindspace Business Parks REIT in 2020, both trading at a premium over their issue price.

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