Indian share markets witnessed buying interest throughout the day today and ended on a positive note.

Benchmark indices edged higher as positive developments in a coronavirus vaccine trial improved global risk sentiment.

Global stock markets were upbeat after a Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech was found to be well tolerated in early-stage human trials.

Sentiment also got a boost after US non-farm payrolls released overnight beat expectations, raising optimism of a V shape recovery. This came as an addition to the recent PMI data from China which was also ahead of expectations and rather encouraging.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 178 points (up 0.5%). The NSE Nifty closed higher by 56 points (up 0.5%).

The SGX Nifty was trading at 10,560, up by 21 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 0.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.5%.

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

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

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 1% and the Shanghai Composite stood higher by 2%. The Nikkei ended up by 0.7%.

In the US, Wall Street closed higher, and the Nasdaq reached an all-time closing high on Thursday buoyed by a record surge in payrolls, which provided assurance that the US economic recovery was well under way.

European stocks fluctuated alongside US futures, with global equities poised to cap their best week in a month on improving economic data and government support.

The rupee is trading at 74.66 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 48,020 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, the last few months have witnessed the kind of shifts that most investors would recall as once in a lifetime.

The Sensex is up over 34% from the lows in March 2020. At that time, it had declined by over 20%. That seemed to suggest the start of a bear market.

What's Driving the Markets?

So, what's driving the markets? An important driver of this rally is the inflow from global funds, now that the global economies have opened the liquidity tap.

A lot of this money is coming to the mid and smallcap space.

In news from the defense sector, defense stocks were in focus today after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) approved the purchase of weapons and equipment worth Rs 389 billion.

The ministry said procurement from Russia and upgrade of MiG-29s would cost about Rs 74.2 billion, while Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) would build the Sukhoi-30MKI fighters in Nashik for an estimated Rs 107.3 billion.

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics rallied up to 10% on the back of the above news.

Meanwhile, Bharat Dynamics hit a 52-week high of Rs 378, up 12% on the BSE. The stock has rallied about 29% in the ongoing week after the company's net profit more-than-doubled at Rs 3.1 billion in March quarter (Q4FY20) on the back of strong operational income.

In the month of May, the government had hiked foreign direct investment (FDI) via an automatic route from 49% to 74% as part of reforms in the defense sector to boost the government's Make in India campaign.

Walchandnagar Industries, Bharat Electronics, Bharat Forge and other stocks engaged in the defense sector ended up in the range of 3-10%.

Moving on to news from the pharma sector, Cadila Healthcare and Pfizer were among the buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Cadila Healthcare surged 5% today after the company said its vaccine candidate for Covid-19 has received permission from DGCI for human clinical trials.

In an exchange filing, the company said it has received the approval from Drug Controller General of India - Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (DCGI-CDSCO) to initiate Phase I/II human clinical trials for its Covid-19 (plasmid DNA) vaccine.

The company has completed preclinical development and plans to begin the trials in July 2020.

The company intends to rapidly ramp up the production capacities of ZyCoV-D at multiple sites and facilities to cater to Indian and global demand.

Cadila Healthcare share price ended the day up by 0.3%.

Meanwhile, here's an interesting data reported by Economic Times recently.

Nearly 1.2 million new demat accounts were opened in the month of March and April during the lockdown.

Most people are drawn to trading because of the availability of free time during the lockdown. It doesn't take much of an effort to enter the markets. But it would take a hell of an effort to survive and profit from the market.