Indian share markets witnessed selling pressure throughout the day today and ended on a negative note.

Benchmark indices witnessed volatility for the fourth straight session led by losses in banks, metal, and auto stocks. Weakness in global markets also weighed on investor sentiment.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 435 points. The NSE Nifty ended down by 137 points.

Amid heavy selling in financial services, private banks, and automobile stocks, the Sensex fell as much as 700 points in intraday trade.

IndusInd Bank was among the top gainers today. ONGC, on the other hand, was among the top losers today.

SGX Nifty was trading at 15,002, down by 113 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended down by 1.7% and 0.8%, respectively.

All sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the automobile sector, metal sector, and banking sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Shares of Tejas Networks and New India Assurance hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets pulled back from all-time peaks as bond yields and underwhelming US data dented investor confidence in a faster economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of the most recent closing prices, the Nikkei ended down by 0.7% and the Hang Seng ended up by 0.2%.

US stock futures are trading higher today. Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 43 points (up 0.3%), while Dow Futures are trading up by 59 points (up 0.2%).

The rupee is trading at 72.55 against the US$.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that the BSE Sensex crossed the 52,000-mark earlier this week on Monday for the first time. Sensex's P/E ratio is at a two-decade high of 36x.

Have a look at the chart below which shows Sensex P/E over the years.

In news from the commodity space, domestic gold and silver prices continued to decline as global gold rates also softened amid rising US bond yields.

On MCX, gold futures slipped 0.4% to Rs 45,861 per 10 gram to near the lowest level in 8 months, while silver futures fell 1% to Rs 68,479 per kg.

Gold prices have dropped sharply since the beginning of this year with rates dropping over 2% in the last week.

Speaking of gold, in one of his videos, Vijay Bhambwani explains why the bull market in gold has not come to an end and why he is still bullish on the yellow metal.

Vijay has put out a 2021 target of Rs 60,000/ 10 gm for gold.

Should the recent correction in gold worry you? Is the gold bull market under threat? Vijay answers these questions in the video.

You can watch the video here: The Gold Bull Market is Still On

In news from the financial markets, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have pumped in a whopping US$ 33.8 billion into Indian equities and debt till February 15 this fiscal year - the highest since FY15 when it was nearly US$ 46 billion, taking their net outstanding investments to a record US$ 592.5 billion.

Of the total FPI assets of US$ 592.5 billion, US$ 537.4 billion were inequities and US$ 51.38 billion in debt, according to the data collated by Care Ratings.

Of the US$ 33.8 billion inflows this fiscal so far, as much as US$ 8.4 billion came in December alone.

The maximum holding is in the financial services sector at US$ 191.3 billion, followed by IT (US$ 76.1 billion) and oil & gas (US$ 50 billion).

In FY20, net inflows were at negative US$ 3 billion after the bloodbath in the markets following the announcement of the coronavirus as a global pandemic in March last year.

How the FPI trend continues going forward remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest developments in this space.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, IDFC First Bank was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of IDFC First Bank hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 66.80, up 10% in intraday trade today after the bank's board approved raising up to Rs 30 billion.

Fundraising has been approved by way of issuance of securities, through one or more permissible mode(s), including but not limited to a private placement, qualified institutions placement, follow-on public offering or a combination thereof, subject to shareholders' approval, IDFC First Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The lender said there are significant opportunities for growth based on the strong capabilities it has built as well as the strong outlook for economic recovery in India.

Last year in June, the bank had raised Rs 20 billion through an institutional placement joining its larger rivals in tapping the markets.

IDFC First Bank was created when IDFC Bank merged with shadow lender Capital First in 2018.

IDFC First Bank share price ended the day up by 7.8%.