Indian share markets recouped early losses during closing hours and scaled fresh lifetime highs to end today's volatile session higher.

Benchmark indices extended their winning streak to the tenth straight day amid buying seen in index heavyweights HDFC, Axis Bank, TCS, and HDFC Bank.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 261 points (up 0.54%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 67 points (up 0.47%).

Axis Bank, HDFC, and TCS were among the top gainers today. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) share price continued its upward trend, hitting a new high of Rs 3,113.

The company is scheduled to announce its Q3FY21 results on Friday, January 8, 2021. The board will also consider the declaration of a third interim dividend to the equity shareholders.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,222, up by 57 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.4%. The BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.7%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note. Gains were largely seen in the banking sector, the IT sector, and finance sector.

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

Asian share markets ended mixed amid continuing worries about surging coronavirus cases.

The Nikkei shed 0.4% as the government was preparing to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and several surrounding areas. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.7% while the Hang Seng ended up by 0.6%.

European share markets edged higher today, lifted by oil and retail stocks, while investors looked past a new national lockdown in Britain to contain a surge in coronavirus cases.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 28 points (up 0.2%), while Dow Futures are trading up by 80 points (up 0.3%).

The rupee is trading at 73.18 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 51,605 per 10 grams.

In news from the mutual fund's space, Yes Bank, Adani Enterprises, PI Industries, Jubilant FoodWorks, Hindustan Aeronautics, and Gland Pharma made entry to the large-cap group of stocks, as per the classification list of large-cap, midcap, and smallcap stocks, released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI).

On the other hand, NMDC, MRF, United Breweries, Container Corporation, GIC, Bank of Baroda, and Max Healthcare were shifted to the mid-cap group from the large-cap group.

Laurus Labs, IndiaMART InterMESH, Dixon Technologies, Navin Fluorine, AstraZeneca Pharma, Bombay Burmah, Suven Pharma, and Persistent Systems were among the stocks that moved from smallcap to mid cap club.

On the other hand, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Kajaria Ceramics, Apollo Tyres, Cholamandalam Financial Holdings, V-Guard, PVR, Symphony, and Future Retail were among the stocks that moved from midcaps to small caps.

This classification of stocks will be effective for the February-to-July 2021 period.

As per the market regulator's circular dated October 6, 2017, mutual funds have one month to align their portfolios as per the fresh list.

Note that last year in September, the market regulator tweaked its October 2017 circular, mandating multi-cap funds to invest at least 25% each in small caps, midcaps, and large cap stocks, leaving the remaining 25% to their discretion.

All mutual funds are required to comply with the latest provisions by the first week of February 2021.

Assuming every fund rebalances, the circular is expected to trigger a move of around Rs 280 billion from large caps to small caps.

Richa Agarwal, lead smallcap analyst at Equitymaster, believes this move would be net positive for select small cap stocks. As per Richa, there could be a speculative rally across small caps.

Here's what she wrote about it:

• It would be myopic and imprudent to bet on any smallcap in the hope of a regulation-driven rally.
  
  That said, you must invest in small caps selectively with a long-term horizon in mind.
  
  Here's why...

• You see, despite the rally in small caps since March, there is still a huge valuation gap between small caps and Sensex.
  
  The ratio of small caps to Sensex stands at 0.37 now, as compared to the long-term average of 0.44 times.
  
  This means certain small caps will witness a significant rebound, irrespective of regulations.

Richa believes this could be a once in a decade opportunity to get rich from select small caps.

In news from the banking sector, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) unexpected decision to delay the annual Financial Stability Report (FSR) has raised concerns over a possible deterioration in asset quality.

The RBI has deferred the release of the FSR to 11 January.

Last week on 29 December, the central bank published its annual report On Trend And Progress Of Banking In India 2019-20, where it pointed to a likely worsening in banks' asset quality.

Reports state that the delay in FSR comes amid the lack of clarity on asset quality. According to RBI data, 40.4% of all loans were on moratorium as of 31 August, highlighting borrowers' inability to repay in the aftermath of Covid-19.

However, bankers maintain that debt recast requests, allowed by RBI after the end of the six-month moratorium, have been much lower than anticipated.

According to the Trend And Progress report, although gross bad loans moderated in FY20 and even so far in FY21, asset quality may sharply deteriorate.

The central bank cited the uncertainty induced by the pandemic and its real economic impact to say that asset quality concerns will remain elevated.

Banks wrote off Rs 2.37 trillion loans in FY20 and the asset quality improvement was led by write-offs.

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

Moving on to news from the finance sector, HDFC was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) hit a record high of Rs 2,658.55, up 3% after the housing finance company reported a healthy 26% year on year (YoY) pick-up in individual loan disbursement during the October-December quarter (Q3FY21).

"The individual loan business continued to see improvements during the quarter ended December 31, 2020. Disbursement growth over the corresponding quarter of the previous year was 26%. Individual loans sold in the preceding 12 months amounted to Rs 169.6 billion," HDFC said in a regulatory filing.

During the quarter ended Q3FY21, the profit on the sale of investments was Rs 1.6 billion. This was on account of the sale of 2.55 million equity shares of HDFC Life Insurance Company.

HDFC's shareholding in HDFC Life is now at 49.99%. This has met the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) mandate of reducing the corporation's shareholding in HDFC Life to 50% or below by December 16, 2020, HDFC said in a quarterly update.

HDFC's share price ended the day up by 2.8%.