Share markets in India witnessed selling pressure during closing hours and ended their trading session on a negative note. Sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the power sector and FMCG sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 336 points (down 0.9%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 91 points (down 0.8%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.3%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 0.2%.

The rupee was trading at 71.32 against the US$.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 0.01% and the Shanghai Composite was up by 0.1%. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.1%.

Speaking of Indian share markets, as can be seen in the chart below, there has been a steady rise in direct participation by Indians in stock markets.

Direct Participation in Stock Markets is Growing Steadily

This increased participation has resulted in not just money flowing into mutual funds, but also in the opening of demat accounts.

In fact, the attractiveness of Indian equities and the fact that investing in demat accounts is now very easy has led to a steady rise in accounts.

What more, this trend is all set to continue, as the Indian stock markets scale new highs in the coming years.

In the news from the FMCG space, ITC share price was in focus today as the company reported 3.9% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its standalone profit at Rs 32 billion for the December quarter. The company had reported Rs 30 billion profit in December quarter of the previous fiscal.

Net sales for the quarter came in at Rs 114 billion against Rs 99 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

Other income for the quarter rose to Rs 8.3 billion from Rs 6.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Market participants were closely tracking the stock of the company on the back of above development.

From the banking sector, Bank of Maharashtra share price was also in focus today as the lender reported a loss of Rs 37.6 billion for December quarter. The loss was led by Rs 44.2 billion provisions and contingencies it made during the quarter.

The loss was six times higher than Rs 5.9 billion loss the lender had reported in the year-ago quarter.

You can also read our analysis of some recently released Q3FY19 results: Zee Entertainment's latest result analysis, Federal Bank, Infosys, TCS, Trident, HDFC bank, NIIT Technologies, Cyient.

In the news from global financial markets, the Bank of Japan cut its inflation forecasts today and warned of rising risks to the economy from faltering global demand.

As expected, the central bank retained its ultra-easy monetary settings at its policy review.