After opening the day on a flat note, Indian share markets witnessed most of the buying interest during closing hours today and ended higher.

Benchmark indices edged higher, ahead of the outcome of a two-day policy meeting of the US central bank. Hopes of an early vaccine also improved sentiment.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 259 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty stood higher by 83 points.

M&M and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers today. IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, was among the top losers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 11,566, up by 39 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.2%. The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.4%.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the realty sector and auto sector witnessing maximum buying interest.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended down by 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.4%. The Nikkei ended up by 0.1%.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive start for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 63 points (up 0.5%), while Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures are trading up by 71 points (up 0.3%).

The rupee is trading at 73.52 against the US$.

Gold prices are currently trading up by 0.3% at Rs 51,920.

Domestic gold and silver prices traded in a narrow range ahead of the US Fed decision. The US Fed will today announce its policy decision in its first meeting since adopting a more accommodative approach to inflation and pledging to keep interest rates low for longer.

In the previous session, gold had edged 0.2% higher at Rs 51,770 per 10 grams while silver had slipped 0.2%.

Over the last three weeks, gold is trading in a narrow range since hitting record highs of Rs 56,200 last month.

Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?

The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...

As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.

Moving on to stocks specific news...

Reliance Industries and Reliance Industries PP were among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Reliance Industries along with its partly paid shares continued their upward movement with the market price of both these stocks hitting a fresh record high on the BSE.

Reliance Industries PP share price hit a new high of Rs 1,469.95 and has more-than-doubled from its closing price of Rs 689 on the listing day (June 15, 2020).

In news from the pharma sector, shares of JB Chemicals surged 10% intraday today, thereby surging as much as 19% in the past two trading days after the company reported strong earnings driven by growth in exports, API, and chronic therapies in the domestic market.

The company's consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 2020 (Q1FY20) nearly doubled to Rs 1,190 million.

Sales during the quarter grew 18.4% at Rs 5.2 billion against Rs 4.4 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Earlier in July, global investment firm KKR & Co. Inc entered into an agreement to acquire 41.7 million equity shares of JB Chemicals, representing 54%, from the promoters of the company.

As part of the deal, KKR acquired the stake from the founding Mody family at Rs 745 per share.

JB Chemicals share price ended the day up by 8.2%.

In other news, Procter & Gamble Health share price slipped 6% today on profit booking. The company reported a 10.8% year on year (YoY) growth in net profit at Rs 489 million for the June quarter.

The pharma company reported an 11% YoY decline in sales at Rs 2 billion, as the business operations got impacted across the country following the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19.

The board of directors of the company recommended a final dividend of Rs 230 per equity share for the financial year ended June 30, 2020.