Indian share markets ended on a strong note, as a strong quarterly performance from top non-banking financial company Bajaj finance boosted financial stocks, and a drop in crude prices eased inflation worries.

Crude oil prices continue falling and tumbled 9% on Tuesday, hit by worries of demand destruction, which could bring down inflation for India, the world's third-largest importer.

Benchmark indices ended on a positive note led by the auto, FMCG, and financial stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 617 points (up 1.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 179 points (up 1.1%).

Bajaj Twins, HUL, and Asian Paints were among the top gainers today.

Power Grid, NTPC, and Reliance Industries, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 15,982, up by 217 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index ended higher by 1.8% while the BSE SmallCap index ended higher by 0.9%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the auto sector, FMCG sector, and banking sector witnessing most of the buying.

Metal stocks, on the other hand, witnessed some selling.

Shares of Blue Dart Express and Varun Beverages hit their 52-week highs today.

Asian share markets ended on a weak note today.

The Nikkei and the Hang Seng ended the day down by 1.2% each. While the Shanghai Composite slumped by 1.4%.

The rupee is trading at 79.26 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 51,258 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, since the major global central banks have hiked policy rates, including our own RBI, equity investors across the globe are having sleepless nights. Such has been the market volatility.

That being said, India's volatility index (VIX) is nowhere close to its pandemic highs of May 2020, although it's steadily inching up since the Russia-Ukraine war began.

Rising volatility is making the Indian investors jittery

A majority of economic indicators have thankfully surpassed their pre-covid levels, but the rally in the bond yields is taking much attention away from equities.

Nevertheless, the correction or selloff in the equity markets offers an opportunity to buy. Given the heightened volatility, you may consider investing in bluechip stocks and large cap mutual funds.

In news from the steel sector, Tata Steel is aiming to restart the 1 m tonnes (MT) NINL steel mill in the next three months, which has been closed for almost two years.

On 31 January, Tata Steel announced winning the bid for acquiring a 93.7% stake in Odisha-based steel maker NINL.

Tata Steel on Monday completed the acquisition through subsidiary company Tata Steel Long Products for a consideration of Rs 120 bn.

On a query on the company's future strategy concerning the newly acquired steel plant, TV Narendran, Managing Director and CEO of Tata Steel, said:

Tata Steel's next move will be to take ownership of NINL and work hard along with employees and other stakeholders to realise the full potential of the asset.

During this time, Tata Steel will also work towards finalizing the plans for the NINL capacity expansion to 5 MTs and take the requisite clearances internally and externally.

Besides 1 MT steel mill, NINL has its own captive power plant to meet the internal power requirement and an air separation unit for producing Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Argon.

It also has its own captive iron ore mines which are under development.

Note that metals stocks have been falling for a while now while the BSE metal index is down over 15% in the past month.

Meanwhile, Tata Steel is one of the Strongest Companies in the Tata Group.

Moving on to news from the energy sector, Shares of oil explorers and producers tanked after crude oil prices sank overnight in the international market, extending their losing streak.

Oil plummeted about 9% on Tuesday in the biggest daily drop since March on growing fears of a global recession and lockdowns in China that could slash demand.

Brent crude oil traded close to US$ 102 per barrel.

Shanghai said it would begin new rounds of mass testing of its 25 m residents over a three day period, citing an effort to trace infections linked to an outbreak at a karaoke bar.

This has stoked fears of lockdown and a drop in demand.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) share price slumped 5% on the BSE today while Oil India's share price closed lower by 8.6% on the BSE.

Moving on to stock-specific news, Bajaj Finance was among the top buzzing stock today.

The company has reported healthy numbers for the quarter ended June 2022.

Bajaj Finance has recorded the highest ever quarterly increase in its customer franchise of 2.7 m in the quarter under review and new loans booked during the period were 7.4 m as compared to 4.6 m a year back.

The core assets under management (AUM) stood at approximately Rs 2.04 tn as of 30 June 2022 as compared to Rs 1.56 tn as of 30 June 2021, an on-year growth of 31%.

Its capital adequacy ratio stood at 26.2% as of 30 June 2022.

During the quarter, the company invested Rs 25 bn in equity shares of Bajaj Housing Finance, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

The Annual General Meeting of the company is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, 27 July.

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