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

Benchmark indices witnessed a sharp selloff today as investors shunned riskier assets amid concerns over tapering of US stimulus later this year and fast spreading of Covid-19 Delta variant.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 300 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 118 points (down 0.7%).

Hindustan Unilever and Britannia Industries were among the top gainers today.

Tata Steel and JSW Steel, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 16,407, down by 152 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended down by 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively.

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

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

Shares of Mindtree and Hindustan Unilever hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note today.

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

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 149 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.38 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading on a flat note today at Rs 47,170 per 10 grams.

Speaking of the stock market, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani shares the immediate impact of the Taliban on the Indian stock market, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

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

Shares of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) hit a record low of Rs 19.5 per share, down 19% on the BSE today following the resignation of Nitin Chugh from the position of MD and CEO of the bank.

In an exchange filing, the bank said,

• The Bank has received a letter dated 18 August 2021, from Mr Nitin Chugh, tendering his resignation from the position of MD and CEO of the Bank w.e.f. close of business hours on 30 September 2021.

The bank further said his tenure as Director is co-terminus with his tenure as Managing Director and CEO of the bank. Therefore, he shall cease to be a Director of the bank with effect from the aforesaid date.

Consequently, he shall also cease to be key managerial personnel of the bank.

In his resignation letter, he confirmed that he is resigning due to personal reasons and there are no material reasons.

Meanwhile, the bank added four directors to the board, out of which two are independent directors.

The bank had made a stock market debut in December 2019. It hit a record high of Rs 63 on 12 December 2019.

Ujjivan SFB had raised Rs 7.5 bn through an initial public offer (IPO) at a price of Rs 37 per share.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank's share price ended the day down by 18.8% 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.

According to Richa Agarwal, Senior Research Analyst at Equitymaster, any investment process should not be judged based on individual outcomes. Instead, it should have stood the test of time.

Her smallcap service Hidden Treasure has had its fair share of failures. But sticking to a disciplined process meant that Hidden Treasure's internal rate of return (IRR) increased to 24.38% since inception. This compares favorably to the IRRs of 9.6% for the Sensex, and 8.8% for the smallcap index in the same period (February 2008 - June 2020) as can be seen in the chart below.

The service's performance did suffer in the short term after the 2018 crash in small caps. However, the long-term track record and the post-Covid rebound underscores the strength of the stock-picking process.

Moving on to news from the IT sector...

Mindtree Shares Hit New High Amid Positive Growth Outlook

In an otherwise subdued market, shares of Mindtree surged over 6% and touched a new high of Rs 3,399.5 on the BSE, amid a positive growth outlook.

The stock, which has been surging for the last three sessions, has soared around 110% from Rs 1,616 per share on the BSE in the last six months, against a 9% rise in the Sensex.

The mid-cap information technology (IT) consulting and services company reported a healthy set of numbers in the first quarter of the financial year 2021-22.

Its net profit jumped by 61.2% year on year (YoY) at Rs 3.4 bn in the June 2022 quarter.

While broad-based growth across verticals aided the company's revenue to rise by over 20% YoY at Rs 22.9 bn for the quarter, while it grew by 8.6% on a quarter on quarter (QoQ) basis.

In dollar terms, Mindtree's revenue grew 7.7% sequentially and profit was up by 7.5%.

Similarly, the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin was at 20.3%, down 166 basis points (bps) sequentially, mostly led by headcount addition.

The deal pipeline also grew by over 34% QoQ (up 28.9% YoY) to US$504 m. It added 3,442 employees in the quarter.

Mindtree has a healthy order book led by the closure of certain deals (especially banking, financial services, and insurance). The increase in multi-year deals, renewals, higher demand from retail & CPG clients, and traction in cloud and customer experience, could bode well for the IT company.

Mindtree's share price ended the day up by 4.7% on the BSE.