On Thursday, Indian share markets inched higher and picked up steam in the afternoon session to close at fresh record highs after banking and FMCG stocks witnessed buying.

Meanwhile, IT stocks fell following a sharp rally in the past few sessions.

IT stocks saw a decent comeback this week after data showed a moderation in US inflation. Indian IT companies earn a significant share of their revenue from the US and Europe markets.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 474 points (up 0.7%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 146 points (up 0.7%).

ITC, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank were among the top gainers today.

Infosys and HCL Tech, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The GIFT Nifty was trading at 19,980, up by 147 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended flat while the BSE SmallCap index gained 0.2%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the banking sector, FMCG sector, and healthcare sector witnessing most of the buying.

While IT stocks and capital goods stocks witnessed selling.

Shares of Polycab India, HDFC AMC, and ICICI Bank hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Transformers and Rectifiers (TRIL) shares crashed 20% after getting a "stop deal" notice from Gujarat Energy Transmission for allegedly submitting a forged material dispatch clearance certificate.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Asian share markets ended lower. The Hang Seng ended flat while the Nikkei fell over 1%. The Shanghai Composite declined 0.9%.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with Dow Futures trading up by 31 points while Nasdaq futures are up 47 points.

The rupee is trading at 81.98 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 59,135 per 10 grams.

In news from the gaming industry, Economic Times has a story out today on how a 28% GST on casinos robbed Delta Corp of Rs 15 billion (bn) in market cap.

Earlier this month on 11 July 2023, the Goods and Services Tax Council decided to impose a 28% tax on gross gaming value for online gaming. This brought online gaming on par with horse racing and offline gambling.

The very next day, shares of Delta Corp crashed around 28%.

We were quick enough to write about what could be the next course of action for Delta Corp. Here's an excerpt:

In a major setback to the country's online gaming industry, the GST Council on Tuesday decided to levy a 28% tax on the full value paid by users.
This decision specifically targets the skill-based real money gaming segment of the company, which accounted for 5.2% of the company's total revenue in FY23.
What's concerning about this tax is that it will be applied to the Contest Entry Amount (CEA) rather than just the commissions earned by platforms.
In simpler terms, the entire sum of money that customers deposit to play will be subject to 28% GST. This marks a significant increase from the previous tax rate of Rs 1.8 per Rs 100 spent on a game.

According to the FY23 annual report of Delta Corp, there were 100 million to 120 million real-money game players in India in 2022. It also added that transaction-based game revenues grew 39%, while casual gaming grew 20% in 2022.

Delta Corporation has a 52-week high price of Rs 259.9 touched on 28 June 2023.

The company currently trades at a PE (price to earnings) multiple of 23.3x.

Moving on to news from the finance sector, Mukesh Ambani's Jio Financial Services demerged today and the NBFC unit's share price came out to be Rs 261.85 per share, much higher than street estimates of up to Rs 190 per share.

Taking into account the impact of a demerger, shares of Reliance Industries fell to Rs 2,580.

Earlier in the day, Reliance had declared that its post-demerger acquisition cost for Reliance Strategic Investments, which is being renamed Jio Financial Services, is 4.68%. Considering yesterday's closing price of Rs 2,840 on the BSE, the cost of the acquisition comes to Rs 133.

Following the demerger, Jio Financial's total outstanding shares come to 6,353.2 million and its total market capitalization comes to Rs 1.66 trillion.

According to reports, the company will also be included in major indices including Nifty 50, at the constant price derived today.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, Fino Payments Bank is considering options to become a small finance bank after having completed five years of operations, the bank's Managing Director Rishi Gupta said.

The Navi Mumbai-based company is a subsidiary of Fino Paytech, which is backed by marquee investors such as BPCL, ICICI Group, Blackstone, IFC, Intel and LIC, among others.

The company started operations in July 2017 with 410 branches to become the fourth payments bank after Airtel Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank and Paytm Payments Bank. It's the only listed company trading on exchanges.

On why to stop at small finance bank, and not a full service bank, Gupta said the company is too small to directly convert to a full service commercial bank from capital and capabilities perspectives.

He said till the upgrade happens, the bank will grow the business with a focus on tie-ups with fintechs under the Fino 2.0 initiative on building digital assets and strengthen the digital offerings.

The company has currently started offering recurring deposits and is also working on launching a virtual debit card. Under the pipeline, it has plans to introduce gold loans, mutual funds and medical insurance.

Fino Payments Bank share price ended the day marginally higher today.

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