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Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended marginally lower.

The volatile ride for benchmark indices continued today as well, aggravated by the weekly F&O expiry, as investors monitored geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 105 points (down 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 18 points (down 0.1%).

Tata Consumer Products and HDFC were among the top gainers today.

UltraTech Cement and ICICI Bank, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,267, down by 51 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 0.2% and 0.7%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the banking sector, healthcare sector and telecom sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Power and energy stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Adani Green Energy and RHI Magnesita hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended up by 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 0.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 164 points.

The rupee is trading at 75.11 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.8% at Rs 50,025 per 10 grams.

In news from the FMCG sector, Nestle was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Nestle's board today approved a final dividend of Rs 65 per share.

The record date for the purpose of determining entitlement of the members to the final dividend is 8 April 2022.

The company also declared its results where net profit fell 20% to Rs 3.9 bn for the fourth quarter ended December as compared to Rs 4.8 bn in the same quarter of last year.

Nestle follows a January-December financial year. Sales during the reporting period rose 8% to Rs 37.1 bn as against Rs 34.2 bn in the same period last year.

Nestle India said it witnessed broad-based, double digit, volume and mix led growth, despite a highly volatile economic environment. Total sales and domestic sales for 2021 increased by 10% and 11% respectively.

Strong growth momentum continued in Maggi Noodles aided by increased availability. KitKat and Munch registered stellar growth throughout the year. Nescafe Classic continued to deliver double digit growth, it said.

'2021 was a very challenging year and I am proud of the determination of the team, our partners and stakeholders to face the context and continue to be inspired to grow,' said Nestle CMD Suresh Narayanan.

Nestle share price ended the day down by 0.9% on the BSE.

Speaking of the FMCG sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE Sensex and BSE FMCG index since 2009:

While the Sensex has offered 393% returns since 2009, the BSE FMCG index has gone up a staggering 532% returns over the same period.

Richa Agarwal, Senior Research Analyst at Equitymaster, and Editor of the smallcap service, Hidden Treasure, believes this outperformance could continue for many years.

As per Richa, with a rising population and standards of living, Indian's consumption demand for FMCG products will skyrocket over the coming years.

Moving on to news from the pharma sector...

Hikal Tanks 11% on Unit Closure Notice

Shares of Hikal dropped more than 11% in early trade today, following a notice from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to shut the company's Taloja unit in Raigad district within 72 hours.

The notice is issued in view of certain alleged non-compliances of the conditional consent to operate and the recent Surat issue, the filing added.

With today's fall, shares of Hikal have plunged more than half of its value from its 52-week high of Rs 742 hit in August 2021. The scrip has plunged more than 25% in the year 2022 so far.

According to Hikal, the Taloja unit had contributed approximately Rs 2.6 bn amounting to around 15% of the turnover of the company for financial year 2020-21.

The company is taking appropriate legal measures as advised by counsels before the pollution board as well as courts to remedy the situation and seek reliefs against the closure notice, the company said in its statement.

Last month, the company made headlines due to a gas leak incident at Surat. Around 6 people died and 23 were hospitalized in Surat due to exposure to toxic fumes.

Following the news, the company is still under investigation in Surat Police's jurisdiction and it is rendering all necessary assistance in the matter.

Hikal share price ended the day down by 5.4% on the BSE.