Share markets in India jumped sharply today after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures in her media briefing ahead of the GST Council meet. Both, the Sensex and Nifty registered a biggest single session gain in the last 10 years.

On the sectoral front, gains were seen in the metal sector and realty sector.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 1,921 points (up 5.3%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 569 points (up 5.3%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 6.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 3.9%.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood down by 0.13% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.16%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.24%.

European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.09%. The DAX was trading up by 0.21%, while the CAC 40 was up by 0.48%.

The rupee was trading at 71.05 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Speaking of Indian share market in general, if you look at the stock market returns over the years, you will see that the markets have never moved in a linear fashion.

What do I mean by that?

It has never been a one-way street - only up or down.

Stock markets have always moved in cycles.

The Time to Buy Stocks is Now

Here's what Radhika Pandit wrote about this in a recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

• If you would have bought stocks when either the Sensex or the Smallcap index was in a downturn, you would have made big returns once the cycle turned and the bulls took over.
  
  Sarvajeet and I believe we are seeing a similar situation currently.
  
  The economic slowdown does not herald the end of the world or for that matter the end of India. It's a phase and like all phases - This too shall pass.

So, the real question is - Are you taking advantage of these price declines to buy quality stocks?

In the news from the macroeconomic space... Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slashed basic corporate tax rate for the domestic companies to 22% from 30% without exemptions. Also, for new manufacturing companies the rate has been cut down to 15% from 25%.

She added that enhanced surcharge announced in Budget shall not apply on capital gains arising on sale of any securities including derivatives in the hands of foreign portfolio investors.

For buybacks, listed companies announcing share buybacks before 5 July will be exempt from buyback tax.

Here are the key takeaways from the press conference:

• Companies enjoying tax holidays can avail concessional rates after the exemption period
• Minimum alternate tax (MAT) reduced to 15 percent from 18.5 percent for companies continuing to avail exemptions and incentives
• Revenue foregone for reduction on corporate tax and other measures pegged at Rs 1.45 lakh crore per year.

Note that the government has been announcing a series of measures to boost growth that had fallen to six-year low of 5% in the June quarter.

Last week, the government had announced a series of measures to revive the housing sector and boost exports. The GST Council is scheduled to meet today in Goa amid demands from the industry for a fiscal stimulus.

In the news from the pharma sector, Lupin share price was in focus today. The stock of the company witnessed buying interest as the company received approval for its sANDA for Levothyroxine Sodium Tablets USP from the United States Food and Drug Administration to market a generic equivalent of UNITHROID, manufactured by Jerome Stevens Pharmaceuticals Inc.

In the news from the banking sector, Yes Bank share price was also in focus today. Shares of the lender witnessed buying interest after Morgan Credits (MCPL), part of the promoter group of YES Bank, sold 2.3% stake in the lender on Thursday. The ownership of the promoter group in the lender has gone down to 15.7% compared with 18% earlier.

Rana Kapoor family's stake in YES Bank now stands at 7.4%. Morgan Credits said the proceeds will be used to prepay a portion of the outstanding non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of MCPL subscribed by various schemes of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Company (RNAM).