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

Benchmark indices registered marginal losses after two days of decent gains following mixed cues from global markets.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 112 points (down 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 24 points (down 0.1%).

M&M and Tata Motors were among the top gainers today.

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

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,081, down by 42 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

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

Auto stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Prestige Estates and United Breweries hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today.

Both, the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended up by 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 0.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a flat note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 20 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.04 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 48,099 per 10 grams.

In news from the auto sector, M&M was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) reported consolidated net profit jumped to Rs 19.3 bn in quarter ended-September, up around 214% from Rs 6 bn year on year (YoY).

The significant rise in M&M's second-quarter profit comes on the back of a one-time charge taken by the company in the year-ago quarter.

The automaker's consolidated revenue from operations rose nearly 12% to Rs 214.7 bn for quarter two against Rs 192.3 bn in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

M&M's operating margin stood at 12.5% despite rising commodity prices and the shortage of semiconductors.

In consolidated financial results, M&M said that it has ceased consolidating Ssangyong Motor Co as a subsidiary from 28 December 2020 and has classified it as discontinued operations for all periods.

The tractor manufacturer said that with better availability of semiconductors, it expects to maintain volume growth momentum from the third quarter onwards.

'Global shortage of semi-conductors has impacted the production and sales for another quarter. Stringent cost control measures have helped partially mitigate margin impact of commodity price,' it added.

The company said that the auto business continues to maintain a strong booking pipeline for its key products. On the other hand, Farm Equipment Sector (FES) tractors market share stood at 40.1% up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

M&M's share price ended the day up by 5.2% on the BSE.

In news from the electric vehicles (EV) space, TVS Motor, India's third-largest two-wheeler maker, is in talks with a clutch of global private equity investors to raise US$300-500 m for its electric vehicle subsidiary at a valuation of US$3.5-4 bn.

In the second half of October, TVS had carved out a subsidiary for EVs, reasoning that it will give it 'scale and flexibility to expand the EV business.

TVS is seeking to raise the funds from pure financial investors and has no plans to onboard strategic investors.

Another homegrown automaker, Tata Motors, had raised US$1 bn from TPG Capital in October at a valuation of US$9.1 bn for its EV business.

TVS' rival, Bajaj Auto, in July, had announced a plan to set up a dedicated electric vehicle subsidiary, which will primarily cater to manufacturing and selling of two, three and four-wheelers.

TVS is said to have roped in an investment banker to advise it. The exact amount of investment and the valuation is yet to be firmed up, the people close to the development said.

The fund proposed to be raised will be primarily used to develop a product pipeline to cater to the global and local markets.

The core aim of this fundraising is to be a serious global player, led by recently acquired British bike maker Norton and Switzerland-based group company Ego Movement.

TVS Motor's share price ended the day up by 2.6% on the BSE.

Speaking of EVs, have a look at the chart below which shows the massive opportunity in the two-wheeler electric vehicles space.

Here's what lead Smallcap Analyst at Equitymaster, Richa Agarwal wrote about this in a recent edition of Profit Hunter:

In the last five years, two-wheeler sales in India were around 2 crore units per year. Now the sector is cyclical and has been in the downturn for some time. So let's consider a moderate 5% growth for the next 10 years.

By 2030, we are looking at 2-wheeler sales of 3 crore units. Even if one third of this is EV sales, that's 1 crore electric 2-wheelers per year.

In the last 2 years, average electric 2-wheeler sales were 1.5 lakh units. From 1.5 lakh to 1 crore, that's a 66x opportunity in 2-wheeler EVs.

This is an annual growth rate of 52% over next 10 years. It's an almost vertical growth opportunity.

As per Richa, this is like a gold rush. But like in any gold rush, the winners will just be a few.