Indian share markets continued to trade strong in the afternoon session ahead of key macroeconomic data to be released later in the day and amid strong Asian markets.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 277 points and the NSE Nifty finished up 87 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished up by 1.1% while & S&P BSE Small Cap too finished up by 1%. Gains were largely seen in realty stocks, pharma stocks and energy stocks.

Tata Steel share price surged 3.3% after it was reported that a deal to merge the European steel operations of Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp could be struck this month, after Tata Steel removed a significant obstacle by offloading its UK retirement fund.

Tata Steel had earlier announced that Britain's pensions regulator has approved a regulated apportionment arrangement in respect of the British Steel Pension Scheme.

Asian stock markets finished broadly higher today with shares in Japan leading the region. The Nikkei 225 is up 1.18% while China's Shanghai Composite is up 0.09% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng is up 0.06%. European markets are mixed today. The DAX is up 0.54% while the CAC 40 gains 0.48%. The FTSE 100 is off 0.15%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 63.94 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 47.84 at the time of writing.

As per a leading financial daily, global rating agency, Fitch ratings in its latest report has said that the public sector banks may need around US$ 65 billion of additional capital by March 2019 to meet the new Basel-III capital norms raising concerns over weak capital positions in Indian banking system.

However, this latest estimated amount of capital requirement is lower than previous estimation done by the rating agency at US$ 90 billion, on account of asset rationalization and weaker-than-expected loan growth.

Fitch ratings also expressed need to address issue to avoid negative influence of weak capital positions on Indian banks' Viability Ratings, stating that state banks have limited options to raise the capital they still require and are likely to be dependent on the state to meet core capital requirements. The rating agency further noted weak prospects for internal capital generation, pointing that low investor confidence impedes access to the equity capital market.

PSB stocks finished the day on a strong note with Indian Overseas Bank share price and Vijaya Bank share price leading the gains.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) share price finished up by 2.3% on the BSE as the company joined a chorus of foreign consumer packaged goods firms betting on India becoming their largest market in the coming years.

India could become Unilever's biggest market, Paul Polman, chief executive of the company, said in an interview with the Economic Times on Monday but did not specify a timeline. Reportedly, India contributes 9% to Unilever's total sales of €4.5 billion.

Meanwhile, Patanjali seems to have disrupted the FMCG pecking order. The share of Indian households that use the Patanjali brand is estimated at 38%. That's huge for a company barely a decade and a half old. Especially if you consider Patanjali's competition.

Patanjali Disrupts FMCG Pecking Order

In 2016-17, the company posted revenues of more than Rs 100 billion. It has surged past behemoths such as ITC, Nestle India, Britannia Industries, and Dabur to become the second largest pure play FMCG company...second only to HUL.

FMCG stocks finished the day on a firm note with Emami Ltd and Marico Ltd leading the gains.

In news from automobile sector, Force motors share price finished the trading day on an encouraging note (up 3.3%) after the company tied up with Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG to form an Indian joint venture company to produce engines for power generation and rail application.

Under the joint venture, Force Motors will produce complete power generation systems, including associated spare parts for Indian and global markets. Force Motors plans to build a dedicated facility under the joint venture at its existing premises at Chakan.

Moving on to news from energy sector, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) share price surged 4.3% government has conferred Maharatna Status to the company.

Energy companies surged in today's trade as market participants cheered Petronet's successful renegotiation with Australia's Gorgon project for lower LNG prices. Over the weekend, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said they renegotiated the pricing of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported from Australia's Gorgon project to make the imported fuel affordable to price-sensitive domestic customers.

And here's a note from Profit Hunter:

Divis Laboratories is one of the most actively traded stocks on the market today - up 12%.

Last time we reviewed the stock, it had broken out of an inverse head and shoulder pattern on the daily chart. The inverse head and shoulder pattern is a bottom reversal pattern indicating a change in the trend. The RSI indicator had also formed a bullish divergence with the price indicating a change in momentum.

After the breakout, the stock hit a high of Rs 760 and reacted towards the neckline of the pattern, which usually acts as a support post-breakout. The stock broke below this support, but it couldn't sustain down for long and it recovered immediately.

Today, the stock surpassed the intermediate high of Rs 760 and broke out of a bigger inverse head and shoulder pattern as seen in the chart below. It soared 12% with heavy volumes indicating strong buying interest.

Now if the stock is able to sustain above the neckline (black line) of the inverse head and shoulder pattern, it might continue to trade up. But on the flip side, if it breaks below the neckline it will open up lower levels for the stock.

Divis Lab Soared 12% for the Day