After trading on a volatile note in the afternoon session, Indian share markets witnessed buying interest at the end of the day and ended their session at a fresh record closing high. Losses were largely seen in the FMCG sector and realty sector, while energy stocks ended the day higher.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 89 points (up 0.3%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 30 points (up 0.3%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.1%.

Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng was up 0.94%, while the Nikkei was trading down by 0.24%. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.12%. The rupee was trading at 63.64 to the US$ at the time of writing.

In the news from the GST space, as per an article in the Economic Times, India is set to unveil another revamp of the goods and services tax (GST) regime next week aimed at making the compliance simpler.

The upcoming GST Council meeting on January 18 is said to take up changes in the definitions of terms such as supply and handicrafts besides replacing the three forms that need to be submitted with one.

The Council is also expected to drop the requirement for upfront invoice matching.

The above development would be the second significant overhaul of GST after a November rejig that saw the tax rate on 178 household goods being lowered.

In the news from the commodity space, gold is continuing its weekly momentum and is trading on a positive note today.

Most of the gains for the yellow metal are seen on the back of a weaker dollar overseas and a firm trend in precious metals.

While the recent gains notable, returns from gold over the past few years have been anything but flattering. Mainly a hedge against market volatility, gold prices have remained at roughly the same levels since 2013, as can be seen in the chart below: