Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a flat note.

Benchmark indices gave up early gains and ended the day on a flat note after witnessing selling pressure in afternoon deals, dragged primarily by power and energy stocks even as India reported less than 2 lakh daily Covid-19 cases.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 14 points (down 0.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 11 points (up 0.1%).

Britannia and Asian Paints were among the top gainers today.

HDFC Bank and HDFC Life, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,240, up by 39 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended down by 0.3%, while the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 0.3%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the power sector, energy sector, and finance sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Consumer durables stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Finolex Cables and Asian Paints hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a strong note today after tracking Wall Street gains overnight.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 1.8% and 2.4%, respectively. The Nikkei ended up by 0.7% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 97 points.

The rupee is trading at 72.77 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 48,520 per 10 grams.

Cipla, Roche Launch Covid-19 Antibody Cocktail Drug

In news from the pharma sector, Cipla was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding and Cipla began selling a covid-19 antibody-drug cocktail to treat non-hospitalized patients who face high risks of their infections turning severe.

The drug, which has been developed by New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., comprises two antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab.

An antibody cocktail is a mix of two or more unique biological drugs that act like human antibodies to help fight off infection.

Roche Pharma India will import the cocktail, which will be marketed and distributed through a strategic partnership with Cipla.

Cipla will sell the two-dose pack at Rs 1.2 lakh, the two companies said in a joint statement. The second batch will be made available by the middle of June.

In total, the antibody-drug cocktail can potentially benefit 2 lakh patients as each of the 1 lakh packs that will be available in India can treat two patients.

The launch of the cocktail follows an emergency authorization from the Drugs Controller General of India earlier this month.

Apart from that, Cipla's RT-PCR test kit, launched last week, will be available in the market from today.

The RT-PCR test kit is called 'ViraGen' and is manufactured by the drug major in partnership with Ubio Biotechnology Systems.

'ViraGen' is the third COVID-19 testing kit by Cipla as the pharma major already has partnerships for antibody detection kit and antigen test kits.

ViraGen is a real-time detection kit approved by the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) and is based on multiplex PCR technology.

The share price of Cipla ended the day up by 0.5% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the hotel's sector...

Shares of Barbeque Nation Hospitality were locked in 20% upper circuit at Rs 767.5 per share on the BSE today after the company posted robust March quarter (Q4FY21) numbers.

Barbeque Nation reported that its consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) more than doubled at Rs 561 million in the fourth quarter of FY21.

The company, one of the leading casual dining chains in India, had an EBITDA of Rs 246 million in the year-ago quarter.

Its consolidated revenues grew 18.5% year on year (YoY) at Rs 2.3 billion, while same-store sales grew 19.9% during the quarter.

In Q4FY21, EBITDA margins improved to 24.8% from 12.9% in Q4FY20. On a sequential basis, EBITDA margins contracted 70 basis points (bps) from 25.5% in Q3FY21.

With a new addition of delivery to the dine-in business, the company has been able to broaden its reach and cater to new customers.

Continued focus on investment into the digital platforms has provided the company with an additional revenue source.

The share of the revenue from digital platforms increased to 24.7% from 20.1% in Q4FY20, while the delivery business has grown around 6 times in Q4FY21 as compared to the same period last year.

The management said that with the gradual opening of the economy and reopening of outlets, the company saw a month-on-month increase in sales from dine-in and delivery channels.

The company continues to focus on building the delivery business which has continued to grow to post the recovery of the dine-in segment. With these promising signs, the management expects the delivery segment to grow by two times in FY22.

Barbeque Nation Hospitality had made its stock market debut on 7 April 2021. The company raised Rs 4.5 billion through an initial public offering (IPO) by issuing shares at a price of Rs 500 per share.

Post listing, the stock hit a low of Rs 481.4 on April 7 and a high of Rs 839 on April 9 on the BSE.

Barbeque Nation Hospitality share price ended the day up by 18.9% on the BSE.

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