Indian share markets were trapped in the bear's grip throughout the trading session ending the day on a negative note.

Worries were built over stubbornly high inflation, with the Reserve Bank of India expected to follow up its unscheduled rate hike in May with another move at the policy meeting on Wednesday.

Benchmark indices dropped early as domestic investors awaited the central bank's decision, while global investors were nervous ahead of US inflation data and key rate decisions in Europe.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 568 points (down 1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 153 points (down 0.9%).

Oil India and ONGC were among the top gainers today.

Titan, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and HUL, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 16,425, down by 157 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended down by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Barring the auto sector, all sectoral indices ended in the red with stocks in the IT sector, FMCG sector, and banking sector witnessing most of the selling.

Sugar stocks have started to gain traction after PM Narendra Modi announced over the weekend that India has achieved its ethanol blending target.

On the other hand, cement stocks are falling and have hit their 52-week lows.

Shares of Hindustan Aeronautics and Oil India hit their respective 52-week highs today.

With volatility easing, several Indian stocks have delivered multi-bagger returns in a quick time. But remember that many of these stocks could be 'junk stocks' and they could be fairly overvalued.

Asian stock markets posted mixed signals today. The Nikkei ended 0.1% higher while the Shanghai Composite added 0.2%. The Hang Seng was down 0.6%.

European shares fell today with investors awaiting the outcomes of the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting and U.S. inflation data this week.

Investor sentiment was dampened by the aggressive monetary policy tightening by central banks in a bid to tame rising inflation.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note with the Dow Futures trading down by 129 points.

The rupee is trading at 77.7 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 50,876 per 10 grams.

In news from the banking sector, all public sector banks (PSBs) will hold a credit outreach drive across districts on Wednesday, as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

In a press release today, the finance ministry said that as a part of the drive, authorities will be hearing out customers and the public about their queries on credit facilities and on enrollment in various government schemes.

Also, as part of the celebration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Jan Samarth portal on Monday, which is a credit-linked portal featuring 13 government initiatives aimed at easing credit availability.

Speaking of the banking sector, are you wondering if it is a good time to buy banking stocks as the central bank is all set to announce another rate hike?

Look at the NPA levels which are currently at 5-year lows, but are still a substantial 6% of the overall loan book.

For now, higher lending rates have offered a bigger margin to banks. Lending rates have gone up but deposit rates are yet to catch up.

So, for a few quarters, higher net interest margins will make the banks look healthy.

In news from the energy space, the share price of Confidence Petroleum jumped as the company received the license for the commercial operation of CNG stations in Bangalore.

In line with an agreement with Gail Gas for the establishment of 100 CNG stations in Bangalore, the company has completed seven, received the license for commercial operation for three, and started CNG dispensing.

In an exchange filing, the company mentioned that other upcoming CNG stations are in line and are expected to be operational soon.

Separately, the company announced that it had bagged an order for the supply of 75 units of CNG mobile and stationary cascades worth Rs 228 m.

Confidence Petroleum India is engaged in LPG cylinder manufacturing, LPG bottling & blending, and running auto LPG dispensing stations.

Confidence Petroleum's share price soared 5% after the announcement but failed to keep up the momentum and ended flat on BSE today.