Indian share markets continued to trade just above the dotted line in the afternoon session in a lackluster day of trading. At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex closed higher by 33 points and the NSE Nifty finished up 11 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished down by 0.4% while & S&P BSE Small Cap too finished down by 0.4%. Oil & Gas sector, bank sector and healthcare sector finished in green while power stocks and realty stocks witnessed selling pressure.

Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng gained 0.91% and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.10%. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.05%. European markets are higher today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 0.63% while Germany's DAX is up 0.59% and France's CAC 40 is up 0.44%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.11 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 47.72 at the time of writing.

HCL Infosystems share price surged 9.6% in today's trade after it was reported that the company will distribute Apple products, including the iconic iPhone, in the Indian market. The company has signed an agreement for distribution of iPhone and other Apple products with Apple India. Earlier in July, the company had said that it was in discussions with the US-based tech giant to distribute its products in India.

Meanwhile, software stocks recovered in today's trade with Tech Mahindra share price and Wipro share price leading the board.

In news from economy, Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India zoomed 37% during the first quarter (April-June) of fiscal year 2017-18 to touch $10.4 billion. As per the data released by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the country had attracted FDI of US$7.59 billion during same quarter previous year.

The main sectors which attracted the highest foreign inflows include services, telecom, trading, computer hardware and software and automobile. Besides, bulk of the FDI came in from Singapore followed by Mauritius, Netherlands and Japan.

It added that since the launch of 'Make in India' initiative (October 2014 - June this year), foreign inflows surged 64% to US$110.12 billion from US$67.26 billion in the same period last year.

To attract foreign inflow, the government has announced several measures including liberalisation of FDI policy and improvement in business climate.

Foreign investments are considered crucial for India as it needs around US$1 trillion for overhauling its infrastructure sector such as ports, airports and highways to boost growth. A strong inflow of foreign investments will help improve the country's balance of payments situation and strengthen the rupee value against other global currencies, especially the US dollar.

Rising Foreign Direct Investments Augurs Well for India

In short, having a steady flow of FDI inflows would help India to achieve necessary investments that will help accelerate economic growth and development.

In addition, the inflows act as a catalyst for domestic industrial development. Since 2014, the Modi led government has laid a great emphasis on welcoming global best practices to be employed in India.

In news from oil & sector, ONGC share price finished on an encouraging note (up 1.1%) after the company received an in-principle approval to acquire the government's 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL). Last month, the government had approved sale of its 51.11% stake in oil refiner HPCL to India's largest oil producer ONGC.

In another development, the government has clarified that upstream oil and gas companies can avail an input tax credit (ITC) on Goods and Services Tax paid only on the value-added products that are manufactured and covered under GST.

The clarification came in the wake of a query, whether ONGC would be eligible to avail credit of five per cent GST paid on specified goods procured by it for petroleum operations.

The government also said that ITC will not be available for GST paid on procurement of goods and services in exploration and production operations that are used for production of crude oil and natural gas.

The government however maintained that the main output of ONGC, that is crude oil and natural gas, are outside levy of GST and output would be subject to levy of existing taxes, central excise (oil cess), VAT/CST etc.

In news from pharma sector, as per a leading financial daily, Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Promius Pharma, has out-licensed the future development, manufacturing, and commercialisation rights of DFD-06, a topical high potency steroid, to Encore Dermatology Inc.

Under the terms of the agreement, Encore will be responsible for the commercialisation of DFD-06 in the US. Promius Pharma is eligible to receive certain pre- and post-commercialisation milestone payments of up to US$32.5 million, followed by fixed royalty payments on net sales.

Dr Reddy's share price finished the day up by 2.4% on the BSE.

Also, Lupin share price finished up by 2.3% after the company said that it has received an establishment inspection report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Aurangabad facility in Maharashtra. This closes all outstanding USFDA inspections at Lupin's Aurangabad facility.

And here's a note from Profit Hunter:

The Indian stock markets traded in a very narrow range for the day. But most of the stocks are in the red as indicated by the market breadth indicator, the advance-decline ratio. Around 67% of the stocks on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are trading down.

But one stock, the Power Finance Corporation (PFC), is currently trading at a very interesting point.

The stock bottomed with the overall market in February 2016 at Rs 70. It rallied strongly to a high of Rs 123 in August 2016. The price then consolidated for a while and found strong support from 115 levels. It bounced from this level four times in 2016. In December 2016, the price finally resumed its up move and the stock hit a new high of Rs 169 in April 2017.

Then the stock corrected sharply and now it is again trading very close to 115 levels.

So it will be interesting to see if the stock can find support this time as well or if the weak market breadth will lead the price to break below 115.

PFC Near Its Important Support Level