Share markets in India have extended early gains and are presently trading higher, tracking gains in Asian peers and Wall Street.

Banking and finance stocks rallied as the special liquidity scheme (SLS) trust to rescue NBFCs, announced under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan relief package came into effect on 1 July.

Sentiment also got a boost after it was reported that India's unemployment rate fell to 11% in June from 23.5% in May, as economic activities resumed after the government eased lockdown curbs.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 382 points, up 1.1%, at 35,800 levels. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 105 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.6%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.9%.

On the sectoral front, gains are largely seen in the IT sector and finance sector.

FMCG stocks, on the other hand, are witnessing selling pressure.

The rupee is trading at 75.48 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 48,199 per 10 grams.

Moving on, Ruchi Soya Industries and Alok Industries are among the buzzing stocks today. The market regulator is probing into the recent jump in share prices of both the companies.

The capital market regulator has sought details of unusual trades in the two stocks from stock exchanges.

Alok Industries, which was re-listed on February 27 after the restructuring of equity, has run up 1,256% since April.

The Mumbai-based textile manufacturer was acquired by Reliance Industries along with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company last year through NCLT.

Meanwhile, edible oil maker Ruchi Soya, which was acquired by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Group through a bankruptcy sale, has been one of the top performers on Dalal Street of late.

After getting relisted on January 27, shares of the company have rallied 8,819%, valuing the company at about Rs 503.6 billion.

People familiar with the matter said that the regulator is investigating whether there have been instances of circular trading in the two stocks.

Speaking of Ruchi Soya, the unstoppable rally in shares of the company has made the edible oil maker one of the top 60 companies on Dalal Street in terms of market capitalisation.

Market Darling of 2020

In terms of market-cap, Ruchi Soya is now bigger than companies like Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Biocon, JSW Steel and Marico among others.

After a sharp rally in the stock price, analysts have turned cautious on the stock. They feel markets regulator should take note and probe what is driving the ongoing rally on the counter.

They said the market regulator should ask the company when it is planning to meet the minimum public shareholding norms of 25%.

As of March 31, 2020, the promoters held a 99.03% stake in the company. Retail investors currently own less than 1% in the company.

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

Moving on to news from the automobile sector, as per an article in The Economic Times, auto and two-wheeler companies clocked sharp month-on-month sales increase in June as pent-up demand and revival in economic activity drove purchases of sedans, SUVs and motorbikes across the country.

Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra and TVS Motor came close to achieving 100% of the pre-COVID-19 sales numbers set in February.

Hero MotoCorp saw sales grow four-fold to 450,744 units over May. The numbers were 27% down year-on-year.

Timely monsoon arrival coupled with record rabi harvest helped grow tractor sales. Mahindra sold 35,844 tractors last month, an increase of 12% over 31,879 units sold in the year-ago period.

Year-on-year (YoY) sales showed a sharp fall but industry executives said they were optimistic about steady demand in the coming months after the June performance.

Maruti Suzuki posted a nearly four-fold month-on-month increase in June numbers with YoY sales falling 53%. The country's biggest carmaker sold 51,274 units in June compared with 13,865 units in May and 111,014 units in June 2019.

In other news, Tesla Inc. displaced Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's most valuable automaker.

In January, Tesla became the world's second-most valuable automaker, when it surpassed Volkswagen AG. It's now worth more than twice the German giant.

Shares of Tesla, which have more than doubled since the start of the year, climbed as much as 3.5% intraday today, giving it a market capitalization of US$ 207.2 billion, surpassing Toyota's US$ 201.9 billion.