Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 157 points, up 0.3% at 46,824 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 38 points.

Divi's Laboratories and HDFC are among the top gainers today. Coal India and Adani Ports & SEZ are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.7%

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

On the sectoral front, stocks from the real estate sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the metal sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 40 points (up 0.3%) while Dow Futures are trading up by 86 points (up 0.3%).

The rupee is trading at 73.44 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up 0.6% at Rs 49,887 per 10 grams.

Gold prices today maintained their upward momentum in hopes of a breakthrough in US stimulus talks. On MCX, February gold futures rose 0.3% to Rs 49,770 per 10 grams, extending gains to the third day. In the previous session, gold futures had risen 0.3% or Rs 60 per 10 grams.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Divi's Laboratories.

Divi's Laboratories on December 17 crossed Rs 1 trillion in market capitalization, the second Indian pharmaceutical company to do so, with shares surging 103% so far this year.

Currently, Divis Laboratories stands at the 30th position among companies having a market capitalization of over Rs 1 trillion. It is the second most valued pharmaceutical company after Sun Pharmaceuticals, which has a market capitalization of Rs 1.4 trillion.

Note that the recent interest in the stock has been due to strong earnings visibility from its aggressive capital expenditure plan. The company has been witnessing strong demand for both active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and custom synthesis operations.

Anticipating strong demand traction, the company has embarked on a capacity expansion plan which is expected to be completed by FY21 and would start contributing to the topline by FY22.

The company, on December 1, had announced the commencement of construction of Divi's Laboratories Unit-III facility (the project) at Kona Forest, Ontimamidi village, Andhra Pradesh from December 7, 2020.

The company said it will be investing about Rs 15 billion out of its internal accruals in a phased manner for the implementation of its Unit-III facility. The operations are likely to commence within 12 to 18 months for the first phase of the Project.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, Divi's Laboratories' share price was trading up by 2.7% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the banking sector...

IndusInd Bank Promoters Get 1 Month Extension To Infuse Remaining Capital

Private lender IndusInd Bank said the market regulator has granted a one-month extension for its promoters to infuse residual capital in lieu of conversion of warrants, issued to them last year, worth over Rs 26.9 billion into equity.

IndusInd Bank had issued convertible warrants to its promoters - IndusInd International Holdings (IIHL) and its subsidiary IndusInd (IL) on July 6, 2019, under the composite scheme of arrangement for a total amount of Rs 26.9 billion for 15.7 million share warrants.

The promoters had paid Rs 6.7 billion towards the warrant subscription for 25% of the warrant price of Rs 1,709 per share.

An amount of Rs 20.2 billion was to fall due on January 5, 2021, for the conversion of warrants into equity shares. In view of the present uncertain times due to disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the bank had, at the request of IIHL and IL, approached the market regulator for an extension in time for payment of the balance amount.

The market regulator then granted an extension of one month for the subscription to the warrants, i.e., until February 4, 2021, to complete the said conversion into equity.

The promoters in a letter to the bank have reiterated their commitment to the subscription to the remaining warrants to complete the conversion into equity. They subscribed to convertible warrants at a price of Rs 1,709 per share when the market was hovering at Rs 1,470 per share.

In the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted business operations of entities across the world. Amongst many measures to safeguard the economy, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also extended a moratorium. It's in this background that the bank requested to seek an extension from the market regulator for payment of the balance number of warrants, as acceded by them.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

Speaking of the banking sector, check out the monthly returns of major sectors for the month of March and October 2020 in the chart below.

In the chart above, you can see that banks were among the major losers with a cut of 34% in the month of March.

Cut to October they are the biggest gainers for the month with 11% returns!