Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended higher.

Benchmark indices extended their gains to the third day in a row, clinching record closing highs, amid a firm global market setup and as fears of a faster-than-expected US Fed tapering receded following disappointing jobs data.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 167 points (up 0.3%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 54 points (up 0.3%).

Wipro and HCL Technologies were among the top gainers today.

IOC and IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,418, up by 86 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the realty sector and IT sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Oil & gas and banking stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of Polycab India and HCL Technologies hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 1% and 1.1%, respectively. The Nikkei ended up by 1.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 74 points.

The rupee is trading at 73.11 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 47,429 per 10 grams.

In news from the energy sector, Reliance Industries was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) hit a new lifetime high of Rs 2,480, up 4% on the BSE today on the back of positive news flow.

The company, after market hours, on Friday said its subsidiary had acquired a majority stake in genomic testing firm Strand Life Sciences for Rs 3.9 bn.

The acquisition by Reliance Strategic Business Ventures (RSBVL) is part of Reliance's digital health initiatives, the firm said in a recent stock exchange filing.

In a statement, the company said,

• RSBVL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has acquired 22.8 million equity shares of Rs 10 each of Strand Life Sciences for a cash consideration of Rs 3.9 bn.

A further investment of up to Rs 1.6 bn is expected to be completed by March 2023. The aforesaid investment is part of the group's digital health initiatives, to foster affordable access to world-class technology and innovation-led healthcare ecosystem in India.

Further, the stock is likely to be in limelight this week in anticipation of the launch of the JioPhone Next smartphone. It will be available in the market from the auspicious date of Ganesh Chaturthi, 10 September 2021.

According to Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL,

• The JioPhone Next will be the most affordable 4G smartphone in India, and the world.

It will be packed with features like google assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, language translation, smart camera with augmented reality filters, and more.

Reliance Industries' share price ended the day up by 1.6% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the steel sector...

Jindal Steel Gets Approval from Shareholders to Sell Stake in Its Power Business

Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) received shareholder approval for divestment of the entire holding of the company in its subsidiary Jindal Power.

At the company's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held electronically on Friday, 97.12% of Jindal Steel shareholders via special resolution approved divestment of the company's power business.

In April, Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) had sought shareholders' approval to sell 96.42% of shares of Jindal Power to Worldone Private Limited, a company owned by promoter group Jindal family.

Worldone will now buy out all the equity shares and redeemable preference shares of Jindal Power held by JSPL for a total consideration of about Rs 74 bn.

Alongside, the EGM which had also floated an ordinary resolution to seek shareholder approval for divestment of power entity to Worldone received relatively lower e-votes in favor at 90.28% with 9.72% voting against this resolution.

Divestment of the company's power business is in line with JSPL's strategic objective to bring down its debt and focus on the domestic steel business going ahead.

In April, JSPL also exited Oman business, where it held a 48.99% stake via Jindal Steel & Power (Mauritius).

Apart from selling off non-core businesses to lower its debt, the company in July this year pre-paid Rs 24.6 bn debt to lenders in a bid to further strengthen its balance sheet.

Jindal Steel and Power share price ended the day down by 0.6% on the BSE.

Speaking of the stock markets, the right investing process can help you win in the long term. It might offer some unexpected and undesirable results in the short term but lets you farewell when you average the outcomes.