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

Benchmark indices swung between gains and losses amid muted investor sentiment across global markets.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 291 points (down 0.6%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 78 points (down 0.5%).

Coal India and Cipla were among the top gainers today.

Tata Motors and HDFC, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,055, down by 106 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

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

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

Shares of Birla Corporation and UPL hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today as uncertainties over inflation prompted investors to reduce exposure to riskier assets.

The Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 0.5%, while the Hang Seng ended up by 1.4%. The Nikkei ended down by 1.3% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 239 points.

The rupee is trading at 73.16 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 48,141 per 10 grams.

In news from the banking sector, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank tumbled over 8.1% to hit an intra-day low of Rs 28.1 apiece on the BSE today after the lender's asset quality worsened in the March quarter.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) reported an 86% jump in its net profit to Rs 1.4 billion for the last quarter of the fiscal year ended in March 2021.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 730 million in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal year 2019-20.

For the full year 2020-21, net profit fell by 98% to Rs 80 million from Rs 3.5 billion in FY20.

Income during the year, however, increased by 3% to Rs 31.2 billion from Rs 30.3 billion. Net interest income also grew by 6% to Rs 17.3 billion in FY21 from Rs 16.3 billion in FY20.

Total income during Q4FY21 was down by 9% at Rs 7.4 billion as against Rs 8.1 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Net interest income (NII) also fell by 21% to Rs 3.7 billion as against Rs 4.7 billion in the year-ago period.

Net interest margin (NIM) declined to 7.9% from 11.2% in the corresponding quarter of FY2020.

The bank's NIM was impacted on account of the de-recognition of interest income on the gross non-performing assets (GNPAs).

The company's GNPAs deteriorated to 7.1% from 1%.

Net non-performing asset (NPA) stood at 2.9% from 0.2% last year. Total provisions as of 31 March 2021, stood at Rs 9.6 bn, covering 6.3% of gross advances.

The bank's provision coverage ratio as of March 2021 was 60%.

Provisions and contingencies in the reported quarter were reduced by 81% to Rs 220 million as against Rs 1.2 billion parked aside in the year-ago quarter.

The provisions and contingencies for the entire fiscal year shot up by 179% to Rs 8 billion from Rs 2.9 billion in FY20.

Its deposits grew by 22% to Rs 131.4 billion as of March 2021 from Rs 107.8 billion as of March 2020.

The bank's Managing Director and CEO, Nitin Chugh said, "The quarter was exceptionally good. Our disbursal was at an all-time high and it was more than two times of what we had disbursed in March 2020. We reported Rs 1.4 billion of profit which is the highest ever for us in a single quarter".

Note that disbursement in the fourth quarter grew by 31% to Rs 42.7 billion as against Rs 32.5 billion during the same quarter of last year.

Ujjivan SFB added 3.2 lakh customers during the quarter, reflecting strong new retail customer acquisition.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's share price ended the day down by 3.1% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the shipping sector...

CCI Approves Adani Ports 25% Additional Stake Acquisition in Krishnapatnam Port

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on May 18 approved the proposed acquisition of an additional 25% shareholding of Adani Krishnapatnam Port by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ).

On April 5, Adani Ports, which had last year acquired a 75% stake in Krishnapatnam Port, announced that it has acquired an additional 25% stake in the port, making it a fully-owned port.

The proposed acquisition of the 25% stake from Vishwa Samudra Holdings will be for Rs 28 billion.

India's largest private ports and logistics company said that together with the 75% ownership in Krishnapatnam port acquired in October last year, the acquisition implies an enterprise value of Rs 136.8 billion.

The company had said that the acquisition reinforces its stride towards 500 million metric tonnes by 2025 and achieving its broader strategy of cargo parity between the west and east coasts of India.

Adani Ports, a part of the Adani Group, is the largest commercial ports operator in India, accounting for nearly one-fourth of the cargo movement in the country.

Adani Krishnapatnam is engaged as a developer and operator of an all-weather, deep-water multi-purpose port at Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, under a build-operate-share-transfer concession from Andhra Pradesh.

After the CCI approval, Adani Ports will now have 100% shareholding in the company.

Adani Ports' share price ended the day down by 0.6% on the BSE.

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