Indian share markets continued their momentum throughout the day and ended the day on a strong note. Gains were largely seen in the realty sector, telecom sector and power sector.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 137 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 59 points (up 0.5%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up 1.5% and the BSE Small Cap index, ended the day up by 1.1%.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood up by 0.1% and the Nikkei was trading down by 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 1.1%.

European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.7%. The DAX was up by 0.4% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.5%.

The rupee was trading at 70.36 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Speaking of Indian share markets, on Friday, the Sensex closed at 35,965, just a little shy of the 36,000 mark.

Incidentally, the Sensex closed at almost the same level - 35,963 to be precise - at the end of January 2018.

But are the broader markets also back to the levels they were in January 2018?

The 10-Trillion Rupee Gap Between the Sensex and the Broader Markets

In the news from the banking space, IDBI Bank share price was in focus today as the lender yesterday said that it has received final letter from Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for an open offer to acquire additional 26% in the lender.

The open offer has been made at a price of Rs 61.73 a share, which is in connection with LIC's acquisition of 51% controlling stake in IDBI Bank.

Last month, the Competition Commission cleared LIC's proposed acquisition of up to 51% stake in debt-laden IDBI Bank.

Reportedly, the deal would help the insurance behemoth to enter the banking space and would provide business synergies despite the IDBI Bank's stressed balance sheet.

In August, the government gave its nod for the LIC's proposed purchase of up to 51% stake in the bank.

With the deal, the insurer would have access to around 2,000 branches of the bank through which it can sell its products.

However, we believe this attempt to bail out the troubled IDBI Bank is a classic case of the state insurer buying toxic assets.

Ask an average Indian investor about the next best thing after safe bank deposits. I can bet they would tell you about LIC policies.

For generations, Indians have treasured LIC policies in their safe deposit lockers like their gold and fixed deposit receipts.

In other news, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be purchasing Rs 500 billion of bonds in January in its open market operation (OMO).

It has further earmarked an additional Rs 100 billion in OMO for December.

This is to intensify cash injection into the banking system starved of cash.

The RBI had earlier stated that the system liquidity will move into deficit in the second half of FY19 and the evolving liquidity conditions would determine its choice of instruments for both transient and durable liquidity management.

OMOs is one of the tools which can be used to either inject or drain liquidity from the system.

It is employed to adjust rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.

The OMO by the RBI will help in easing the cash shortage in the system and stabilize debt market rates.

It will also help ease tight liquidity situation triggered by a series of default by group companies of IL&FS.

What effect the above measure will have on the banking system remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.