Indian share markets extended gains to the second day today and ended at record-high levels with Nifty ending above 14,600-mark.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 393 points (up 0.8%).

The NSE Nifty closed higher by 123 points (up 0.9%).

Tata Motors and Adani Ports & SEZ were among the top gainers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,635, up by 78 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 1.1%. The BSE Small Cap index ended higher by 0.6%.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the auto sector, IT sector, and energy sector.

Asian stock markets ended mixed today. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng ended up by 1.1% and the Shanghai Composite ended up 0.5%. The Nikkei ended lower by 0.4%.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 62 points (up 0.2%).

The rupee is trading at 73.01 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.3% at Rs 49,149 per 10 grams.

Also speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that since the lows in March 2020, the smallcap index has gained more than 100%.

While caution is indeed warranted, Richa Agrawal, Research Analyst at Equitymaster, thinks there is still a lot more steam left to this smallcap rally.

Despite rallying more than 100% since the March 2020 lows, Richa believes small-cap stocks are set for a massive up move in 2021 and beyond.

Richa believes if you focus on the quality of business, margin of safety in valuations, and an optimum asset allocation, you are likely to create huge wealth for yourself.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

DCM Shriram was among the top buzzing stocks today.

DCM Shriram reported a 45% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2.5 billion for the quarter ended December and announced a Rs 10 billion investment to grow its chemical business.

Total income stood at Rs 21.7 billion in the third quarter of this financial year (Q3FY21) as against Rs 22.2 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The board declared an interim dividend of 275%, which is Rs 5.50 per equity share of the face value of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2020-21.

The company has approved an investment of Rs 10 billion in chemical business for various projects at the existing site of the Bharuch (Gujarat) plant. It will set up a plant to produce Epichlorohydrin (ECH) with a capacity of 51,000 tonnes per annum, along with a glycerine purification facility. It will also produce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at a capacity of 52,500 tonnes per annum.

A multipurpose product research and development center will be set up and the capacity of anhydrous aluminum chloride will be expanded.

The company said that the R&D center is being set up to enable forward integration of existing products and new products i.e. ECH and H2O2. This will also set up the base of the company for other value-added chemicals going forward. Regarding anhydrous aluminum chloride, the objective of expansion is to meet growing demand and derive economies of scale.

How these developments pan out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Market participants were also tracking Hindustan Zinc share price today as the company reported a 36% YoY increase in net profit at Rs 22 billion for the quarter ending 31 December 2020.

In news from the IPO space...

The initial public offering (IPO) of Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) was oversubscribed on the third and final day of bidding i.e. today.

By noon hours today, the issue received bids for 1,938 million shares, which was 1.55 times the issue size of 1,247 shares.

The company has already raised Rs 13.9 billion from 31 anchor investors.

The price range for the offer has been fixed at Rs 25-26 per share.

In other news, the IPO of Indigo Paints, the fifth-largest decorative paints company in India, was oversubscribed on its first day of bidding today.

The issue of the company was subscribed 1.3 times on its first day of the bidding during noon hours today.

The public issue received bids for 73.51 lakh equity shares against an offer size of 55.18 lakh shares (excluding anchor book).

The anchor book witnessed good response from investors, including global investors and domestic asset management companies.

The retail investors' reserved portion saw a subscription of 2.3 times and that of non-institutional investors 80%, while the employee portion received 10% subscription and that of qualified institutional buyers 10% during market hours today.

The company aims to raise Rs 11.7 billion through its public issue, of which it has already garnered Rs 3.4 billion from anchor investors.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 1,488-1,490 per share for the initial share sale.

At the upper end of the price band, the public issue is expected to fetch Rs 11.7 billion, which comprises Rs 3 billion through fresh issuance of shares and Rs 8.7 billion through an offer for sale (OFS).

Half of the issue is reserved for qualified institutional buyers, 35% for retail investors, 15% for non-institutional bidders and there is a reservation of up to 70,000 equity shares for a subscription for employees, who will get a discount of Rs 148 per equity share to the offer price.