Indian share markets continued to witness buying momentum in the afternoon session and finished on a firm note amid strong global markets. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 205 points and the NSE Nifty finished higher by 57 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.4% while S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 0.2%. Gains were largely seen in software sector, pharma sector and automobiles sector.

Asian stock markets finished broadly higher today with shares in Hong Kong leading the region. The Hang Seng is up 1.14% while China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.98% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up 0.56%. European markets are higher today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 0.59% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.10% and Germany’s DAX is up 0.07%.

Rupee was trading at Rs 64.36 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 57.02 at the time of writing.

In news from mining sector, Coal India share price finished the day on an encouraging note (up 2%) after it was reported in The Economic Times that the company is planning to leverage the expertise for diversification.

Coal India is contemplating foraying into mining of new minerals and metals like iron ore, nickel, bauxite and copper to harness its expertise. Moreover, the PSU coal miner is working on various areas including solar power.

Last month, Coal India had said that the modalities for diversification into new mineral mining were expected to be ready in the next few months. Coal India, which accounts for over 80% of the domestic coal production, is eyeing 1 billion tonnes output by 2019-20.

In another development, coal imports surged by 40% to 19.18 million tonnes (MT) in November against 13.70 MT in November 2016 and 19.77 MT in October 2017.

This was mainly due to pick up in demand for winter restocking and low coal stock position in power plants. Also, the uptrend in coking coal prices coupled with supply concerns saw the buyers taking fresh positions in that market.