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

Benchmark indices erased early gains and turned negative after global credit rating company slashed India's 2021 growth forecast to 9.6% from 13.9% earlier, after accounting for the impact of the deadly second covid wave in April-May.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 283 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 86 points (down 0.5%).

Titan and Maruti Suzuki were among the top gainers today.

Adani Ports and Wipro, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,699, down by 72 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended down by 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the metal sector, oil & gas sector, and energy sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Consumer durables and auto stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Godrej Agrovet and Finolex Cables hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today after reassuring comments on inflation and monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials bolstered investor sentiment.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

The Nikkei ended on a flat note in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 56 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.27 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 47,100 per 10 grams.

In news from the defense sector, Bharat Electronics was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Bharat Electronics (BEL) hits over a three-year high of Rs 170 per share after rallying 12% on the BSE today after the company reported a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2021.

The stock of the state-owned defense company was trading at its highest level since February 2018.

In the fourth quarter, BEL reported a 30.7% year-on-year (YoY) jump in profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 13.5 bn on the back of healthy revenue growth and operational performance.

Revenues grew 19% YoY at Rs 69.1 bn, on the back of normalizing supply chain and execution business operations.

Absolute earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter came in at Rs 19.7 bn, which grew 32.9% YoY.

While EBITDA margin came in better than estimated at 28.5%, improving around 300 basis points (bps) YoY.

The company said it has a healthy order book position of Rs 534.3 bn as of 1 April 2021.

Overall, BEL reported a strong all-around performance in quarter four despite a challenging environment.

Robust order inflows at Rs 152.8 bn, up 15.8% on YoY, and order book at Rs 534.3 bn for the year provides good revenue visibility for the coming months.

Also, a strong balance sheet provides confidence about the continued accelerated business trajectory for the company.

Besides, the company has recommended a final dividend of Rs 1.2 per equity share (120%) of Rs 1 each for the financial year 2020-21.

Bharat Electronics' share price ended the day up by 10.8% on the BSE.

Speaking of the defense sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the top 5 military spending countries in the world as of 2019:

According to a SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) report, India was the third-largest military spending country in the world in 2019.

Moving on to news from the auto ancillaries sector...

Minda Industries to Acquire 51% Stake in UZ Chasys

Auto components maker Minda Industries said it will acquire a 51% stake in Uzbekistan-based automotive lighting manufacture UZ Chasys for around Rs 580 m.

The company has won the bid to acquire a 51% stake in UZ Chasys in Uzbekistan for a purchase consideration of 83.1 bn Kyrgystani Soms (equivalent to Rs 580 m), Minda industries said in a statement.

The Uzbekistan government is moving toward liberalization of the economy and divesting its stake in some of the government-controlled entities.

As part of this process, the Uzbekistan government is divesting its 51% stake in UZ Chasys through an auction process.

UzChasys specializes in manufacturing automobile headlights and lamps. It is a leading supplier to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Uzbekistan and has significant exports as well.

The Uzbekistan automotive market is expected to grow significantly in the coming years along with the introduction of new models which will benefit UZ Chasys.

The acquisition will further expand Minda's geographical footprints.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest news from this space.

Minda Industries' share price ended the day on a flat note on the BSE.