Indian share markets continued their momentum seen during the day and ended their session on a positive note today. Gains were largely seen in the stocks from the realty sector and metal sector.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 732 points (up 2.2%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 237 points (up 2.3%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 2.4%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 2.6%.

Asian stock markets finished on a positive note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng was up 2.1% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite stood higher by 0.9%.

The rupee was trading at 73.66 to the US$ at the time of writing.

In the news from the banking space, as per a leading financial daily, the recent correction in stock markets has given a blow to the government as the value of government holdings in listed PSUs has reduced by Rs 6 trillion from their one-year highs.

Also, it’s interesting to compare how these stocks performed compared to the frontline index – BSE Sensex.

The BSE-PSU index, which includes many companies from the PSU space, considerably underperformed the BSE Sensex.

Underperformance of BSE PSU Index

For three out of five years, the BSE-PSU index considerably underperformed the BSE Sensex. From 2014 till date, the BSE-PSU index gave a meagre annualised return of 3%. Whereas, the BSE Sensex delivered 14%.

This underperformance can be attributed to sector specific events such as non-performing assets (NPAs) in the banking space and rising oil prices that impacted OMCs, among others.

In the news from pharma space, as per a leading financial daily, drug firm Zydus Cadila said it has received tentative approval from the US health regulator to market Linagliptin and Metformin Hydrochloride tablets, used to control of blood sugar levels in diabetic patients.