Share markets in India are presently trading on a strong note.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 564 points, up 1.1% at 52,108 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 133 points.

Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv are among the top gainers today. Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Grasim Industries are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 1.5%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.

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

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

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

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 39 points (up 0.3%) while Dow Futures are trading up by 159 points (up 0.5%)

The rupee is trading at 72.59 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 47,282 per 10 grams.

Gold prices remained weak for the third day in Indian markets today in tandem with softer global rates. On MCX, gold futures were up 0.2% to Rs 47,398 per 10 grams. In the previous two sessions, gold had lost about Rs 800 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold eased today after a jump in US Treasury yields, which nearly hit their 11-month high. Gold fell 0.2% to US$ 1,820 an ounce.

Note that higher bond yields increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like gold.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Motherson Sumi.

Shares of Motherson Sumi Systems (MSSL) rallied today to hit its fresh 52-week high as investors cheered the auto ancillary company's stellar December quarter earnings.

The auto components major reported a nearly four-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 12.7 billion for the quarter ended December. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 3.4 billion in the same period last fiscal.

Note that the stock price of Motherson Sumi Systems has rallied over 60% in the last three months and is up more than 26% year to date.

The company's consolidated revenue from operations during the quarter also jumped almost 14% to Rs 171 billion from Rs 150 billion in the same period last fiscal.

On the operational front, its consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 60.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 18 billion from Rs 11.2 billion, while EBITDA margins increased by 310 bps to 10.5% from 7.4%, YoY.

The company has also reported its lowest net debt in fourteen quarters.

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

At the time of writing, Motherson Sumi's share price was trading up by 10% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the chemicals sector...

Deepak Nitrite Delivers Strong Operational Performance in Q3FY21

Deepak Nitrite delivered a strong operational performance during the quarter ended December with its consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) growing 25% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3.4 billion. The company also saw its consolidated EBITDA margin expand by 330 basis points (bps) to 27.4%.

The margin accretion of the company has been driven by increased volumes and higher efficiency in plant operations of the phenolic business supported by better sourcing, logistics, and marketing for the wider product basket including Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA).

The company also saw its revenue grow 9% YoY to Rs 12.4 billion in Q3FY21, on account of a robust improvement in the phenolics business which was aided by an incremental contribution from its IPA products.

The profit after tax (PAT) of the company also came in higher by 38% YoY at Rs 2.2 billion. The operational improvement in the phenolics business and contribution from IPA accompanied by lower finance costs and depreciation led to the sharp rise in quarterly PAT.

"In the backdrop of volatile input prices and persistent sluggishness in some end-use industries like oil, paper, textile we have achieved a strong sequential recovery in both revenues and profitability", the management said in its latest conference call. It expects the trend to continue in the March quarter (Q4FY21).

The management further said the company is setting the platform for continued growth through planned introductions of newer products and projects. The company is witnessing an encouraging demand scenario across several end-user industries, and that is expected to continue as it moves ahead.

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

Speaking of small caps, 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. Here's what she wrote in a recent edition of Profit Hunter...

• The P/E for smallcap index doesn't make sense. There are thousands of listed small companies. Some have negative earnings. The base is not valid data to work with.
  
  That said, the closest proxy to relative valuations is the Smallcap to Sensex ratio,
  
  Historically, this ratio has averaged 0.43x. In the previous mega runs of the smallcap index, this ratio has gone as high as 0.75x.
  
  In January 2018, when small caps peaked, the ratio was at 0.58x.
  
  Guess where this ratio is now after a 100% run-up in the smallcap index?
  
  0.38.
  
  It's lower than the median over 2 decades.

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.