Share markets in India are presently trading on a strong note tracking positive global cues. Benchmark indices extended rally buoyed by encouraging data from coronavirus drug trials in the US.

Reportedly, Gilead's antiviral Remdesivir in early clinical trials seemed to show it helped speed recovery in Covid-19 patients.

Besides, the government's announcement to give considerable relief to many districts post-May 4 boosted sentiment.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 1,048 points, up 3.2%, while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 299 points.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 2.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 1.9%.

Shares of Hero MotoCorp and HCL Technologies gained over 6%, while Tata Steel, Infosys, and Maruti Suzuki surged over 5%.

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

Gold prices are currently trading up by 0.5% at Rs 45,790.

The rupee is currently trading at 75.04 against the US$.

Moving on, market participants are tracking HUL share price, Reliance Industries share price and Tech Mahindra share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their March quarter results (Q4FY20) later today.

You can read our recently released Q4FY20 results of other companies here: Wipro, TCS, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Tata Elxsi, ACC, CRISIL, Ambuja Cement, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank.

In news from the global financial markets, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates near zero and repeated a vow to do what it takes to shore up the US economy amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, the central bank said, "The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the US economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals."

The Fed said it expects to maintain the target range for its benchmark overnight lending rate at the current 0% to 0.25% until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals.

It also said it will continue to buy US Treasuries and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth markets, and to offer large-scale overnight and term repurchase agreement operations.

The US economy has gone from historically low unemployment to seeing more than 26 million people file for unemployment benefits and the sharpest plunge in activity since the Great Recession.

The meeting was the first held by the Fed since it took emergency steps in March and April to stabilize financial markets, slashing interest rates to near zero and throwing a credit lifeline to businesses and local governments.

US stock markets were lifted by the Fed's commitment, and by optimism that economies will recover as lockdowns are eased soon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up by 2.2%, while the S&P 500 index rose 2.7%. The Nasdaq Composite ended higher by 3.6%.

Yesterday's gains put the S&P 500 index up more than 13% for the month. This is the index's biggest one-month gain since 1974.

Moving on to news from the insurance sector, the General Insurance Council, a self-regulatory body of the country's general insurers, has announced a one-time exemption for all businesses from losing their fire and property insurance coverage for keeping facilities shut down for a month.

As per standard policy terms, fire and property coverage ceases to continue if the building or property insured is unoccupied for 30 days.

Reportedly, the above move brings relief to millions of businesses across the country shuttered due to the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

The one-time relaxation covers all policyholders whose property is unoccupied on or after March 25, when the lockdown started, till May 3.

In other news, new business premium for life insurance companies tanked 32% in March to Rs 254.1 billion compared with Rs 374.6 billion in March 2019, according to data published by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) reported a dip of 31% in new premium income in March compared to the same month last year.

However, for the financial year, the new business premium for life insurance companies grew at 26.60%.

Speaking of the insurance sector, this is one sector which is a clear outperformer in this volatile market.

With the huge future potential of the sector, the outperformance is not surprising. India's life insurance penetration i.e. insurance premiums as a percentage of GDP, is very low compared to the global average.

Life Insurance Sector - Megatrend in the Making

The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11-13% over the next five years. India's large youth population and growing awareness about insurance is bound to accelerate growth.