After opening the day in green, share markets in India witnessed buying activity throughout the day and ended the day on a strong note. Gains were seen across most sectors with stocks in the IT sector and stocks in the power sector, leading the gains.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 346 points (up 1.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 97 points (up 1%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 1%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 1.1%.

Asian stock markets finished in green. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite was flat. The Nikkei 225 was up by 1.5%. European markets too were trading in green. The FTSE 100 was flat. The DAX was higher by 0.7% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.7%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 65.25 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 55.25 at the time of writing.

In the news from the auto sector. According to a leading financial daily, state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) will float another tender for 10,000 e-cars in March-April next year in line with the government’s vision of having all-electric passenger cars by 2030.

This would indeed come as a boost to India’s electric car program. EESL said that it will float another tender of around 10,000 electric vehicles during March-April, much before it expects to complete the current bidding process in June.

EESL gave out a similar contract in September to Tata Motors Ltd and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, kicking off India’s electric vehicle procurement programme.

These vehicles will be used to replace petrol and diesel cars used by the government and its agencies, which have around half-a-million cars, of which about a third are leased.

Mahindra lost out to rival Tata Motors Ltd in a government contract for 500 electric vehicles but later said it would match the lowest bid of Rs 10.16 lakh per vehicle made by Tata Motors as it wanted to be part of the government’s electric mobility mission.