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

Benchmark indices edged lower for the second consecutive day today, tracking weak cues from Asian peers as investors weighed the impact of rising COVID-19 cases, ahead of the release of China's state data on factories.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 186 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 66 points (down 0.4%).

Power Grid Corp and Cipla were among the top gainers today.

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

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,793, down by 81 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the metal sector, banking sector, and auto sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Healthcare and FMCG stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Marico and Balrampur Chini hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note today on concerns over new coronavirus outbreaks in the region could undercut an economic recovery.

Both, the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 0.9%.

The Nikkei ended down by 0.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 55 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.22 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.4% at Rs 46,800 per 10 grams.

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

FMCG major Emami on Monday said it has increased its strategic stake in Helios Lifestyle, owner of the male grooming brand The Man Company (TMC), to 45.96% from 33.09%.

Emami, the makers of the brands like Navratna, BoroPlus, Fair & Handsome, Zandu Balm & Mentho Plus, and Kesh King, forayed into the fast-growing online male grooming segment with an investment in Gurugram-based Helios Lifestyle in 2017.

It had acquired a 33.09% equity stake in Helios in two tranches, one in December 2017 and the latter in February 2019.

In this latest round of investment of Rs 500 m, Emami has acquired 51,991 shares in Helios, according to market sources.

Harsha V Agarwal, director of Emami, said,

• As Helios is doing well, it needed funds for further growth and expansion, and we have the option to increase the stake, we have decided to increase the stake as per our plan.
  
  Now we are the largest shareholder in the company. We see a lot of potential in the whole area of the digital-first brand.
  
  The company now has an omnichannel presence, but it focuses on digital.

As per the agreement, Emami has the right to have a controlling stake in Helios or acquire the company in the future. Currently, the promoters' stake in the company is 35-36%.

Emami's share price ended the day up 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 Sensex has offered 393% returns since 2009, the BSE FMCG index has gone up a staggering 532% returns over the same period.

Moving on to news from the engineering sector...

RITES Bags Orders of Nearly Rs 7.5 Bn from Railways

Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) has bagged two major railway electrification orders from the Ministry of Railways and a consultancy assignment from Metro Express Mauritius.

RITES will be undertaking railway electrification work on the Mysore - Hassan - Mangalore railway route, amounting to Rs 4.6 bn. It will also be executing work between Lumding and Badarpur, worth Rs 2.9 bn.

Metro Express, Mauritius has awarded RITES additional consultancy services work for an extension of the mainline from Rose Hill to Reduit through Ebene for a fee of Rs 450 m approximately.

RITES is a Miniratna public sector enterprise and a leading player in the transport consultancy and engineering sector in the country.

RITES' share price ended the day down by 0.1% on the BSE.