Photo by Onkarphoto on Unsplash

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

Benchmark indices continued to swing amid high volatility, with selling pressure at regular intervals followed by a recovery.

After starting on a flat note, markets faced selling pressure and gyrated in a tight range. While FII selling kept indices under pressure, investors back home were seen bargain hunting after a 3-day fall.

Power stocks witnessed selling, while select heavyweights like Tata Steel, Reliance and Bajaj twins helped the benchmark index to close in green.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 187 points (up 0.3%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 53 points (up 0.3%).

Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance were among the top gainers today.

Power Grid and UltraTech Cement, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,240, up by 18 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets faced the heat today and ended with losses. The BSE MidCap index fell 0.5% while the BSE SmallCap index plunged 1.4%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector and energy sector witnessing buying interest.

Power stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of SIS and Gujarat Narmada hit their 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today.

The Nikkei and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 1%.

US stock futures are muted today as investors await key inflation data later this week. Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are trading 0.2% higher while Nasdaq futures are up 0.1%.

The rupee is trading at 74.72 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 48,270 per 10 grams.

Gold is steady today as inflationary pressures kept the safe-haven metal supported near previous session's one-week high.

In news from the electric vehicle (EV) space, in a big push towards green shift, Maharashtra will offer companies like Amazon.com Inc and Uber new incentives to electrify their delivery fleets ahead of a 2025 target for cleaner air.

Home to the financial hub of Mumbai, Maharashtra is an important market for e-commerce, ride-hailing and food delivery companies. Last year, it set a target for such companies to electrify 25% of their fleet by 2025.

Now it wants to bring the target forward by offering companies higher incentives for bulk purchase of EVs, state minister Aaditya Thackeray told in an interview.

Companies the state is likely to approach in the next month include Amazon, Uber, Walmart's Flipkart, Softbank Group-backed ridesharing firm Ola and food-delivery companies Zomato and Swiggy.

Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato and Swiggy have previously set out EV targets for 2025 and 2030, and Uber is working with EV companies to introduce electrification in its fleet.

Thackeray, who is spearheading Maharashtra's broader climate-change agenda, says he is aware of the challenges and has plans to make Maharashtra a leading EV manufacturer.

He added, to increase EV supply and demand, India needs to lower import taxes on cars to allow companies like Tesla Inc to test the market.

The state is already a major auto hub and home to domestic carmakers like Tata Motors that will invest in building more EVs, as well as global players like Mercedes Benz, which will assemble its luxury electric sedan there.

Note that Maharashtra offers some of the highest incentives of any Indian state to EV manufacturers and buyers in the form of lower taxes. It is also building a network of charging stations along highways and in state-owned parking lots in Mumbai.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space. Stay tuned.

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

(Click on image to enlarge)

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.

Moving on to stock specific news...

Sansera Engineering was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Auto ancillary firm Sansera Engineering hit a new low of Rs 681.20 today, slipping 9% in intraday trade after the company's net profit more-than-halved to Rs 239 m in the December 2021 quarter.

This was due to its weak operational performance. The auto component company had posted profit of Rs 506 m in the year-ago quarter.

During the quarter, the company's total revenue declined 3% to Rs 4.9 bn while EBITDA margin contracted 520 bps at 15.6%, driven by a fall in gross profit and higher employee cost.

The company's management said the situation is improving gradually, and they are observing signs of recovery across segments led by pent up demand and relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

• A sequential improvement in M&HCV sales is expected to continue, driven by expected rise in e-commerce, agriculture, infrastructure, and mining economic activities.
  
  Electric vehicle (EV) market also continues to gain momentum and recent measures announced in the Budget (including battery swapping policy, creation of special mobility zones) will help enhance EV infrastructure and should propel the adoption of EVs in the country.

Shares of Sansera Engineering ended the day lower by 4.9%.