Indian share markets continued their momentum during closing hours and ended the day on a positive note. Gains were largely seen in the energy sector and consumer durables sector.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 194 points (up 0.5%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 66 points (up 0.6%). The BSE Mid Cap index closed up by 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by around 1%.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 0.3% and the Nikkei was trading down by 0.6%.

European markets were also trading on a mixed note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.1%. The DAX was trading down by 0.2%, while the CAC 40 was down by 0.2%.

The rupee was trading at 70.36 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Note that the current scenario in the Indian stock market looks very similar to what happened in 2013.

Back then, mid and small cap stocks witnessed a similar correction while the BSE Sensex stayed put.

Is It 2013 All Over Again?

2018-19 has also followed a similar pattern.

As Sarvajeet Bodas writes in today's edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp...

• Long term-capital gains tax was introduced in last year's budget. We've seen corporate governance issues leading to auditor exits and finally the IL&FS impact.
  
  The rally that followed in 2013 was led by mid and small caps.
  
  Will 2019 pan out the same way?
  
  All you can do is control what can be controlled.
  
  Pick up fundamentally strong stocks with able management at the helm.

These businesses Sarvajeet is talking about are businesses that have delivered earnings even in tough times.

These stocks are most likely to lead the next leg of the market rally when it happens.

In other news, the two-day offer for sale (OFS) by Endurance Technologies witnessed a tepid response from non-retail investors so far.

The issue received bids for 1,13,002 shares, which is 2% of the total issue size of 57,27,273 shares reserved for the non-retail category.

Shares of Endurance Technologies witnessed selling pressure on the back of the above development.

The OFS is by promoter Anurag Jain and has opened for bidding from today.

The move is aimed at reducing Jain's stake to meet market regulator's minimum public shareholding norm of 75%.

Currently, the promoters of the company hold 82.5% stake in the company.

What response the OFS gets during the bidding process remains to be seen. We'll keep you updated on the same. Stay tuned.

Moving on to the news from the finance space, DHFL share price was witnessing buying interest today after the company said that an independent accountancy firm TP Ostwal & Associates found little substance in Cobrapost allegations.

Shares of the company gained around 20% in early trade today on back of the above news.

As per an article in The Economic Times, the auditor concluded that DHFL has not promoted any of the alleged 26 'shell' companies that borrowed a total of Rs 115.2 billion from the firm.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

• Further, it does not have any directors in common, including members from the promoter group, with any of these alleged shell companies. Further, the company or promoters do not have any shareholding in these entities, nor are these entities shareholders of the company.
  
  We were unable to find evidence to support the allegations that the promoters have concealed shareholding in the company neither did we find any evidence to support the allegation of insider trading.

The auditor report suggested there are no indications to confirm the allegations that the company has created shell companies to divert funds.

That said, DHFL is required to monitor post disbursal end use of funds by the borrowers. The report indicated the monitoring in respect of 15 borrowers with loans amounting to Rs 74.9 billion is significantly inadequate.

Last month, shares of the company witnessed selling pressure as, Cobrapost said that DHFL diverted funds to shell companies to buy assets and that firms linked to DHFL's controlling shareholders - the Wadhawan group made political donations beyond mandated levels.

Cobrapost had sought responses to 64 allegations, which were leveled upon the promoters, DHFL and various entities alleged to be controlled by the promoter group. The auditor said since 25 of the 64 questions did not relate to allegations against DHFL and they were not examined or addressed by it.

Last week, rating agency ICRA downgraded the company's commercial papers (CPs) worth Rs 80 billion to 'A2+' from 'A1+'.

However, the company said that the rating action by ICRA is not merit based and it has not taken cognizance of DHFL's intent to extinguish CPs by the end of March.

In the news from the commodities space, crude oil was witnessing selling pressure today.

Oil prices fell more than 0.5% today as output forecasts by two big US producers outweighed recent OPEC-led efforts to rein in crude production.