Indian share markets continued to surge in the afternoon session and touched record highs amid gains in international markets. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 184 points and the NSE Nifty finished higher by 54 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 0.7% while S&P BSE Small Cap finished up by 1%. Gains were largely seen in FMCG sector, realty sector and consumer durables’ sector.

Asian stock markets finished higher today with shares in Japan leading the region. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.89% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up 0.25% and China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.18%. European markets are broadly higher today with shares in Germany leading the region. The DAX is up 1.01% while France’s CAC 40 is up 0.74% and London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.22%.

Rupee was trading at Rs 63.38 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 61.42 at the time of writing.

In news from the economy, expressing optimism over India’s medium-term economic prospects, global ratings agency, Fitch Ratings in its latest report has stated that the country has the potential to grow at an average of 6.7% per annum over the next five years and will be the fastest growing large economies.

It added that even though this rate of growth is lower than the potential and what policymakers have been aspiring for, it is ahead of the 5.5% growth estimated for China and Indonesia, who are joined at the second fastest rank.

It also said that the country is set to witness a continued robust growth in the working-age population in the next five years, bolstering growth potential, and added that Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and Brazil will also benefit from a similar trend.

Moving on to news from telecom sector. Idea share price continued to rally and finished up by 10.67% on the BSE after the company unveiled a plan to raise up to Rs 67.50 billion ahead of its merger with Vodafone India.