Extending gains to the sixth straight day, Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity during closing hours and ended higher.

Benchmark indices witnessed volatile trades during the day but regained momentum during closing hours amid buying in auto and metal stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 133 points (up 0.3%).

The NSE Nifty stood higher by 49 points (up 0.4%).

UltraTech Cement and Grasim Industries were among the top gainers today. IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, was among the top losers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 13,981, up by 48 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.5%. The BSE Small-Cap index ended higher by 0.4%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the auto sector and metal sector witnessing buying interest.

Telecom stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

Asian share markets ended mixed today.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng stood higher by 2.1% and the Nikkei fell 0.4%.

The rupee is trading at 73.25 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 49,950 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, in his latest video Rahul Shah talks about his preferred portfolio for 2021 and beyond.

Rahul shares his portfolio strategy and the important principles one needs to keep in mind to build a market-beating portfolio.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

BHEL was among the top buzzing stocks today.

State-owned engineering firm BHEL today said it has won an order from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL).

The company has bagged the order for supply of 32 Reactor Header Assemblies to NPCIL.

The order has been won under NPCIL's Fleet Mode Procurement for India's highest-rated indigenously-developed 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) to be set up at four different locations in the country, BHEL said.

Significantly, this is the first equipment order placed by NPCIL under the Fleet Mode Procurement programme and will give an impetus to domestic manufacturing.

BHEL has the distinction of being associated with all the three stages of the Indian Nuclear Power Programme and has been the primary supplier for reactor headers, steam turbines, steam generators, motors, etc. to NPCIL.

Till now, all the Reactor Header Assemblies for 700 MWe PHWR based nuclear power projects have been supplied by BHEL.

In news from the auto ancillaries sector...

Shares of battery-makers rose today after reports stated that the American clean-energy and electric-vehicle (EV) company Tesla will begin its operations in India in 2021.

This development is expected to give a boost to the EV segment, which may result in a jump in demand for batteries.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari confirmed on December 28 that Tesla will begin its operations in India in 2021.

The minister said that Tesla will begin its operations with sales first and then maybe look at assembly and manufacturing based on the response to the cars.

Shares of companies such as Exide Industries, Amara Raja Batteries, and Eveready Industries India witnessed buying interest today on the back of the above news.

Market participants were also tracking banking stocks today after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that with nearly 40% of the outstanding loans under a moratorium, India's banking and non-banking financial sectors may face a sharp deterioration in asset quality, going forward.

Banking and non-banking financial sectors in India showed resilience in 2019-20, but with nearly 40% of the outstanding loans under a moratorium, the system may face a sharp deterioration in asset quality, the RBI's annual publication titled "Trend and Progress of Banking in India", said.

The report evaluated the banking sector's performance in 2019-20 and touched upon some views for the coming days.

In the year under review, asset quality, capital positions, and profitability strengthened. The gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio moderated from its peak in March 2018 to reach 7.5% by the end of September 2020. The improvement was driven by lower slippages, which declined to 0.74% in September 2020, and the resolution of a few large accounts through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Fresh slippages remained the highest among public-sector banks.

There was robust credit growth in rural areas and the share of public-sector banks in rural credit has fallen in favor of private banks, the report said.

There was significant moderation in NBFCs' financial performance after double-digit balance sheet growth in the previous three years.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the banking sector, note that the sector was one of the worst affected sectors in the Indian stock market when Covid-19 struck.

Banking stocks were severely punished. No investor wanted to touch them even with a 10-ft pole.

However, sentiment have changed now as investors are chasing banking stocks like never before.

Have a look at the monthly returns of major sectors for the month of March and October 2020 in the chart below:

Banks were among major losers with a cut of 34% in the month of March. Cut to October, they were the biggest gainers for the month with more than 11% returns!

If you're interested in knowing what could be the reason behind such a change in sentiment, you can read about it in this edition of Profit Hunter: Banks are Booming in a Covid World.