Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended marginally lower.

Benchmark indices exhibited a lacklustre performance as caution prevailed among investors globally amid concerns about the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 91 points (down 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 20 points (down 0.1%).

Eicher Motors and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers today.

SBI and ITC, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,205, down by 57 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index ended on a flat note, while the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 0.4%.

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

Healthcare stocks, on the other hand, witnessed buying interest.

Shares of Minda Industries and Metropolis Healthcare hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a negative note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended down by 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 0.6% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 57 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.74 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 47,877 per 10 grams.

In news from the auto sector, Bajaj Auto was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Bajaj Auto has announced an investment of Rs 3 bn and commenced work at a brand-new unit at Akurdi for manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs).

This unit will have a production capacity of 5 lakh EVs per annum. Akurdi (Pune) is also the site of the original Chetak scooter factory that made Bajaj Auto a household name in India. It is spread over half a million square feet and will employ nearly 800 people.

Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto said,

• In 2001 Bajaj 2.0 took off on the roaring Pulsar, in 2021 Bajaj 3.0 arrives on the charming Chetak.
  
  Going forward, for the Bajaj portfolio, except for implementing one state-of-the-art ICE platform that is currently under development, all our R&D drive train resources are now laser focused on creating EV solutions for the future.
  
  This alignment reflects our belief that light electric vehicles for sustainable urban mobility is an idea whose time may finally have come.
  
  Thus, this investment at Akurdi completes the virtuous cycle of hi-tech R&D competencies, high-efficiency engineering capabilities, world class supply chain synergies, and global distribution network which should leapfrog us into a market leading position in EVs in India and overseas.

The new unit will have robotic and automated manufacturing systems for everything including logistics and material handling, fabrication and painting, assembly and quality assurance.

The systems have been designed for flexible product mix. The investments made by Bajaj Auto will be supplemented by a number of vendors, who will invest a further Rs 2.5 bn. The first vehicle from this unit is expected to roll out by June 2022.

Bajaj Auto share price ended the day up by 2.9% on the BSE.

Speaking of EVs, have a look at the chart below which shows the massive opportunity in the two-wheeler electric vehicles space.

Here's what lead Smallcap Analyst at Equitymaster, Richa Agarwal wrote about this in a recent edition of Profit Hunter:

• In the last five years, two-wheeler sales in India were around 2 crore units per year. Now the sector is cyclical and has been in the downturn for some time. So let's consider a moderate 5% growth for the next 10 years.
  
  By 2030, we are looking at 2-wheeler sales of 3 crore units. Even if one third of this is EV sales, that's 1 crore electric 2-wheelers per year.
  
  In the last 2 years, average electric 2-wheeler sales were 1.5 lakh units. From 1.5 lakh to 1 crore, that's a 66x opportunity in 2-wheeler EVs.
  
  This is an annual growth rate of 52% over next 10 years. It's an almost vertical growth opportunity.

As per Richa, this is like a gold rush. But like in any gold rush, the winners will just be a few.

Moving on to news from the pharma sector...

Pharma Stocks Rally As DCGI Approves Emergency Use Of Covid Pill Molnupiravir

Shares of domestic pharmaceutical companies gained today as the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the Anti-Covid-19 pill Molnupiravir for emergency use in the country on Tuesday.

Strides Pharma will launch the capsule immediately while other homegrown pharma companies such as Aurobindo Pharma, Natco Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Cipla have announced rolling out their generic versions of the drug shortly.

According to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, 13 companies in India will manufacture the drug approved for restricted use under emergency situation for treatment of adult patients with Covid-19 and who have high risk of progression of the disease.

Six companies - Cipla, Sun Pharma, Emcure, Torrent Pharma and Viatris (earlier called Mylan), led by Dr Reddy's have formed a consortium to conduct a five-month collaborative trial to test the safety and efficacy of the drugs which received approvals.

All the six companies have entered into a non-exclusive voluntary licensing agreement with Merck Sharpe Dohme (MSD) to manufacture and supply Molnupiravir in India and to over 100 low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

None of the companies have announced the pricing of the drug, reports said adding that Dr Reddy's will soon launch its molnupiravir capsules 200mg under the brand name Molflu across India.

Shares of Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's ended the day up by 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively, while Cipla gained 0.2%.