Indian share markets witnessed huge buying interest during the extended closing hours today and ended their day on a strong note.

Equity markets witnessed sharp gains after the trading resumed post the technical glitch on NSE. The Nifty jumped over 14,950, while Sensex jumped more than 1,050 points during the extended trading hours.

Note that trading was halted on the NSE today due to a technical glitch and market trading timing for both the exchanges - BSE and NSE - was extended till 5:00 pm.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 1,030 points (up 2.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 274 points (up 1.8%).

Coal India and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers today.

Power Grid was among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,017, up by 303 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended up by 0.8%. The BSE Small-Cap index ended up by 1.1%.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note. Gains were largely seen in the banking sector and finance sector which ended the day up by 3.7% and 3.3%, respectively.

Asian share markets ended deep in the red.

The Nikkei was down 1.6% while the Shanghai Composite stood lower by 1.9%. The Hang Seng ended down by 2.9%.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 28 points (up 0.1%).

The rupee is trading at 72.36 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 46,782 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, in the latest episode of Investor Hour Podcast, ace trader Brijesh Bhatia talks about the best investments of 2021 and his profitable trading system.

In the episode, Brijesh spoke about the best investments of the year and also shared his views on the Nifty, gold, silver, bitcoin, his top trading themes for 2021, and much more.

In news from the IPO space...

The initial public offering (IPO) of agrochemical manufacturer Heranba Industries was subscribed 1.9 times at the time of Indian stock market closing hours today - the second day of bidding.

The retail investors have put in bids 3.5 times against their reserved portion, while the portion set aside for non-institutional investors has been subscribed 61%, and that of qualified institutional buyers 2%.

The agrochemical company's IPO includes a fresh issue of Rs 600 million and the remaining is an offer for sale (OFS) by existing investors.

The price band for the issue has been fixed at Rs 626-627 per share.

Heranba Industries is a crop protection chemicals manufacturer, exporter and marketing company. It has over 9400 dealers/distributors across 16 states and 1 Union Territory in India and exports to over 60 countries across the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa.

How this IPO sails through remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Nava Bharat Ventures was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Nava Bharat Ventures witnessed huge buying interest today after the company announced that its board will consider share buyback proposal on Friday, February 26.

The firm, on Tuesday after market hours, informed the stock exchanges that the meeting of the board of directors will be held on February 26, 2021, to consider the proposal for the buyback of equity shares of the company.

We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Speaking of buybacks, as a shareholder in cash-rich companies, you should not only be wary of expensive buybacks. But if possible use it to your advantage to rake in some cash.

As per Rahul Shah, co-head of Research, investors should not assume buybacks are always good. Here's an excerpt of what he wrote:

• The reason behind the buyback must be investigated. At the end of the day, an increase in earnings should be more a function of the inherent robustness of the business, as that's what will help it continue to grow at a healthy pace.

In news from the defence sector...

Bharat Forge share price was also in focus today as the company has won an order worth Rs 1.7 billion from the Ministry of Defence for supply of Kalyani M4 vehicles.

The firm inked a pact with global aerospace and technology firm Paramount Group to manufacture armoured vehicles in the country.

The management of the company said this collaboration brings together the manufacturing and technology excellence of two leading companies, which have matching synergies and complementary capabilities. The Kalyani M4 is a fantastic new generation vehicle, and the company wants to position it as the future of protection in all markets worldwide.

Kalyani M4 is a multi-role platform, designed to meet the specific requirements of armed forces for quick mobility in rough terrain and in areas affected by mine and IED threats.

Speaking of the defence sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the top 5 military spending countries in the world as of 2019:

According to a SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) report, India was the third-largest military spending country in the world in 2019.

Here's what we wrote about it in one of the editions of Profit Hunter:

• If you look at the chart closely, you will realise it is likely to remain among the top spenders in the coming years.
  
  It's because of the second-largest spender shown in the chart, China.
  
  With rising tensions between the two countries, the incentive is strong for India to keep up with China.
  
  It all makes sense for the government to focus on this sector in a big way in the near future.
  
  The government'sAtmanirbhar' push will get a massive boost through local defence manufacturing. This will create profitable opportunities in defence stocks for astute investors.

Co-head of Research at Equitymaster, Tanushree Banerjee keeps a close watch on stocks in the defence space. As per Tanushree, defence will be a big wealth-creating opportunity.

Back in June 2020, she recorded a video about India's best defence stocks.