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After opening on a flat note, Indian share markets extended gains as the session progressed and ended on a strong note.

Index heavyweight stocks took the benchmark indices higher as M&M, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and L&T rose over 2%.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 465 points (up 0.8%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed up by 127 points (up 0.7)

M&M, Bajaj Finserv, and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers today.

Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, and ICICI Bank, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

M&M's share price touched its all-time high today. Shares of the company are in an uptrend ever since it received a superb response to its new vehicle launch.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,574, up by 150 points, at the time of writing.

The broader markets ended on a positive note. Both, the BSE MidCap index and the BSE smallcap index climbed up by 0.3%.

Barring the oil & gas sector, all sectoral indices ended on a positive note.

Stocks in the capital goods sector and power sector witnessed maximum buying.

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics, Siemens, and Adani Enterprises hit their 52-week highs today.

Reliance, SBI, and ICICI Bank were amongst the most active shares on the BSE today.

Asian share markets ended mixed. The Nikkei ended up for the day by 0.3%, while the Hang Seng inched lower by 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite ended 0.3% higher.

The rupee is trading at 79.68 against the US$.

Gold futures on MCX are trading up by 0.3% or to Rs 52,039 per ten grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading higher by 1.2% at Rs 58,054 per 1 kg.

Of late, the gold price is falling while silver isn't far behind. Silver price is also falling as industrial demand for silver is under pressure while a stronger US dollar is adding to worries.

Speaking of stock markets, Rahul Shah talks about whether the recent market rally is sustainable or not, in his latest video.

The second half of 2022 has started with a bang I should say. After sliding in the first half, the indices have staged a smart recovery and recovered a lot of the ground it lost in the first half.

So, will the second half of 2022 be one such period? Will the benchmark indices create a new high in the second half or will they continue with their downward journey and pile more misery on investors?

In news from the defense sector, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) rallied 5% today in hopes that the company will deliver a strong operational performance. This is because defense budgets and revenues for defense contractors are expected to increase.

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) hit a 52-week high of Rs 2,094 today.

In the last six months, shares of HAL have rallied 52%.

HAL signed a contract worth over US$100 million for the supply and manufacture of 88 engines/kits along with maintenance and support services to power the Hindustan Trainer Aircraft (HTT-40) last month.

HAL had also announced that the company and Safran Helicopter Engines signed an agreement to create a new joint venture intended to develop helicopter engines.

In the year 2022-23, defense budgets and revenues for defense contractors are expected to remain largely stable or increase, as military programs continue to be critical to national defense.

The company in its FY22 filing said,

Thrust of the government towards domestic products for developing a self-reliant industry will bring greater opportunities for new orders.

The stability of military sector during the time of crisis will entice commercial players to diversify in to military sector as risk mitigation strategy. This will bring opportunities for HAL to diversify into commercial sector by forming strategic alliance with such companies.

HAL is among the top defense stocks in India having a monopoly in certain segments.

Speaking of the defense sector, note that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in her Budget of 2022-23 that the defense research and development space will be opened up for the industry, start-ups, and academia and 25% of the defense R&D budget has also been earmarked for this purpose.

The Indian government is likely to spend a massive US$130 bn over the next 7-8 years on the modernization of the armed forces.

This has given a big boost to the indigenization of defense procurement.

Increasing Budget Allocation to Defence (in US$ billion)

Moving on to news from the energy sector, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) was among the top buzzing stocks today.

BPCL shares slipped 5% today as the company posted weak June quarter results.

The energy giant reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 62 bn against a profit of Rs 31.9 bn in the same quarter last year.

Its revenue rose to Rs 1.3 tn as against Rs 896 bn year-on-year (YoY).

The company earned US$ 27.51 on turning every barrel of crude oil into fuel in the quarter as against US$ 4.12 per barrel gross refining margin a year back.

But this was negated by losses that were incurred because of holding fuel prices despite the rising costs.

The negative EBITDA of the company rose to Rs 54 bn from Rs 53 bn in the previous year.

Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta, director of BPCL said,

BPCL refineries have performed exceptionally well supported by robust international cracks of petroleum products, resulting in the GRM going up.

On an overall basis, despite robust GRM's, the company reported a net loss in the first quarter due to heavy losses in marketing business.

BPCL share price ended the day 3% lower on the BSE.

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