Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a flat note.

Benchmark indices gave up early gains during closing hours as investors worried about the surge in Covid cases in the country and the WPI inflation soaring to an eight-year high.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 28 points (up 0.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 36 points (up 0.3%).

Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement were among the top gainers today.

ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,640, up by 46 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended higher by 1.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the automobile sector and power sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Banking stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of DCM Shriram and Bajaj Electricals hit their 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today as China's economy grew at a record pace in the first quarter, expanding 18.3% from a year earlier as the recovery from the coronavirus slump accelerated.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended the day up by 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. The Nikkei ended up by 0.1%.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with Dow Futures trading up by 51 points.

The rupee is trading at 74.32 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.4% at Rs 46,999 per 10 grams.

In news from the retail sector, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has offloaded 2.27 million shares in one of his favorite picks Titan Company in the March quarter of the financial year 2021.

As per data available with BSE, Jhunjhunwala and wife Rekha Jhunjhunwala together held 45 million shares, or a 5% stake of Titan at the end of the March quarter. Jhunjhunwala held 35.3 million shares, while Rekha has 9.6 million shares.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) also trimmed their stake to 160.7 million shares (18.1% stake) in the Tata Group company in the March quarter against 165 million shares (18.6% stake) in the previous quarter.

LIC of India, however, raised its stake in Titan to 30.5 million (3.9% stake) shares in Q4FY21 against 30.2 million (3.6% stake) shares in Q3FY21.

Mutual funds also increased their holding to 30.9 million (4.4%) shares in the March quarter against 30.7 million shares (4.2%) in the December quarter.

Titan's share price ended the day up by 0.6% on the BSE.

Speaking of the country's largest watchmaker, here's interesting data on Titan...

Even a tiny investment of Rs 1,000 per month in the stock of Titan, since 2002, would have led to mouth-watering returns.

Take a look at how the power of compounding has gone wild here...

Moving on to news from the realty sector, Ashoka Buildcon was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Ashoka Buildcon's share price rallied 11% in today's intra-day session after winning the Gujarat Rail Infrastructure project worth Rs 3.3 billion.

Ashoka Buildcon received a letter of award (LoA) from Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (G-RIDE) for gauge conversion of Bechraji-Ranuj section for a total length of 38.15 kilometers from meter gauge to broad gauge.

The project also includes electrification of the railway line with 25 KV AC electrification. The project falls under the Ahmedabad division of Western Railways, Ashoka Buildcon said in a press release.

Ashoka Buildcon's share price ended the day up by 2% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the macroeconomic space...

India's Exports Jump 60% in March, Contracted by 7.2% In FY21

India's merchandise exports surged to US$ 34.5 billion, up 60% year-on-year (YoY) in March, on the back of a low base effect in the lockdown-hit corresponding month last year.

Exports grew exponentially in the previous month which is overall higher than 0.7% growth in February, with March becoming the fourth consecutive month of growth in FY21. Also, mark that for the full year, exports fell by 7.3% versus FY20.

According to provisional data released by the commerce and industry ministry on Thursday showed, gold imports surged almost 592% on-year, leading to a 53.7% rise in overall imports and widening the country's trade deficit to US$ 13.9 billion against a deficit of US$ 10 billion during the year-ago period.

In FY21, merchandise exports fell by 7.3% YoY at US$ 290.6 billion. Similarly, imports also shrank 18% to US$ 389.2 billion, mainly due to delay in revival in domestic manufacturing due to the pandemic.

In FY20, the trade deficit for the entire fiscal year narrowed to US$ 98.6 billion, against US$ 161.4 billion.

As per the data released, two categories out of 30 major exports witnessed growth in March including iron ore, electronic goods, carpets, handicrafts, gems and jewelry, ceramic products, and engineering goods among others. Exports of oilseeds and cashew witnessed a decline in the last month.