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

After holding gains for a major part of the trading day, benchmark indices nosedived to lower levels in late deals dragged by weakness in key index heavyweights Infosys, ITC and Reliance Industries.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 323 points (down 0.6%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 88 points (down 0.5%).

ONGC and Adani Ports were among the top gainers today.

Eicher Motors and Tata Consumer Products, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,434, down by 61 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended down by 0.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.4%.

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

Oil & gas stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Torrent Power and Tanla Platforms hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today.

Both, the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended up by 0.1%. The Nikkei ended down by 1.6% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 99 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.40 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,487 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, in her latest video, lead small-cap analyst at Equitymaster Richa Agarwal talks about a niche sector that is set for hypergrowth.

Investors are always on the lookout for sectors and segments witnessing high growth. As per Richa, if you want to ride the growth story without compromising on profits, SaaS could be the answer.

In news from the banking sector, IOB and Central Bank were among the top buzzing stocks today.

In line with the government's divestment plan of Rs 1.8 tn for the financial year 2022, there are reports of the government introducing a banking amendment bill in the upcoming winter session of Parliament to privatize two state owned banks.

The government has shortlisted Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Central Bank of India for divestment. With this, the two banks might witness sale of 51% stake in the first phase of divestment.

The news triggered shares of both the banks as they spiked up to 20% in today's trade.

In September 2021, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had removed Indian Overseas Bank from its watchlist i.e., prompt corrective action (PCA) after an improvement in the lender's asset quality.

The PCA is a framework under which lenders with struggling financial indicators are placed under watch by RBI. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of India is still under the framework.

Plan to privatize some banks was announced in the Union budget for 2021-22 as a part of the government's broader divestment goals for fiscal 2022.

The bill will be reportedly among the 26 bills, which are scheduled to be introduced during the session.

Among other bills in discussion, India's cryptocurrency bill is the most awaited during the session of Parliament, which will run from 29 November to 23 December.

Shares of IOB and Central Bank of India ended the day up by 13% and 10.5%, respectively.

Speaking of PSUs, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE PSU index compared to BSE Sensex over the past few years.

As can be seen from the chart above, over the last decade, Rs 100 invested in BSE PSU index would have eroded to Rs 80, compared to almost 3x gains for the Sensex.