India share markets witnessed selling pressure during closing hours and ended their volatile day marginally lower.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 76 points (down 0.2%) and the NSE Nifty stood down by 30 points (down 0.3%).

The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.7%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down 0.4%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note. Stocks in the telecom sector, metal sector and energy sector witnessed huge selling pressure, while realty stocks were trading in the green.

The rupee was trading at 71.71 against the US$.

Asian stock markets finished on a negative note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 1.57% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 0.25%. The Nikkei 225 was down 0.48%.

European markets were also trading on a negative note. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.51%. The DAX was trading down by 0.22%, while the CAC 40 was also down by 0.22%.

In the news from the commodity space, gold was witnessing buying interest today. Gold prices rose today supported by the concerns that US bills on Hong Kong could increase tensions between the US and China.

Prices also scaled up yesterday on sensitive worries that a Sino-US trade deal could hit a hurdle as the US Senate passed a bill to back up Hong Kong anti-government activists. Prices recovered after news that US-China first phase trade deal will not be completed this year.

Note that gold prices have been weighed down early this week as optimism grew about US-China trade ties following a report of "constructive talks" over the weekend, while losses were capped by a softer dollar.

Gold is considered a safe store of value during times of economic or political uncertainty.

Speaking of gold, Vijay Bhambwani talks about how gold has been relied upon by humankind for 3000 years in one of his videos.

If you consider street inflation, your fixed deposits are giving negative yields. In times like these, Vijay considers gold as a safe haven.

So, is it time to buy gold?

Tune in to find out...

Moving on to the news from the IPO space, realty firm Puranik Builders has filed fresh papers with Indian stock markets regulator to raise an estimated Rs 10 billion through its initial share-sale.

The IPO comprises fresh issue of shares worth Rs 8.1 billion, besides, an offer for sale up to 18,59,620 equity shares by the company's promoters and existing shareholders.

Proceeds from the above issue will be utilized towards the repayment of loan and other general corporate purposes of the company. In addition, the company plans to receive the benefits of listing of its equity shares on the stock exchanges.

Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd and Axis Capital will manage the company's initial share-sale and the shares of the company will be listed on the BSE and NSE.

Earlier in June 2018, the company had approached Sebi with its IPO papers and had received the market regulator's clearance to launch the public issue but did not go ahead with the plans then.

In other news, the IPO of Kerala-based private sector lender CSB Bank, formerly known as Catholic Syrian Bank will hit the markets tomorrow and will be available at a price band of Rs 193-195 apiece.

The bids for the offer can be applied for a minimum of 75 shares and its multiples.

CSB Bank is one of the oldest private lenders in India, having a strong presence in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

For the six months ended September 30, the bank reported a revenue of Rs 8.17 billion. Its profit, for the first half of FY20, stood at Rs 443 million, reversing the loss of Rs 657 million reported in FY19.

In terms of asset quality, the bank's gross non-performing assets (NPA) were 2.86% of its total advances, declining from 4.87% as of March 31.

Its total NPA provisioning and write-offs stood at Rs 2.7 billion for the six month period ended September 30, against Rs 11.3 billion provisioning and write offs between FY17-19.

How this IPO sails through the market remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest developments from this space.

Speaking of IPOs, the year 2019 hasn't seen much activity in the IPO market. Since the start of the year, there have been just 13 IPOs on the BSE main board.

Even the ones that hit the primary markets were mostly small to mid-sized IPOs. And no mega IPOs.

The total amount raised through IPOs has shrunk to Rs 107.2 billion in 2019, a third of the Rs 309.6 billion raised in the previous year.

Very few companies come out with IPOs during bearish market conditions. So, when the IPO market is sluggish, you must take that as an indicator of market sentiment and liquidity conditions.

However, it is interesting to note that despite the tepid market conditions, most of the companies gave positive listing day gains.

In fact, if you had invested in each one of them and held them till now, your gains would have been even better.

The chart below shows the top five performing IPOs of 2019:

Top 5 Performing IPOs of 2019

As you can see in the chart, the best IPOs of 2019 have delivered fantastic returns. In fact, 10 of the 13 companies have delivered positive returns.

So, unlike bull markets wherein selling shareholders do their best to squeeze the highest price, bear markets often offer fantastic opportunities to spot great companies and get on board early on.