Indian share markets witnessed volatility during closing hours and ended their day marginally higher. Gains were largely seen in the energy sector and telecom sector, while metal stocks and IT stocks witnessed selling pressure.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 22 points (up 0.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 12 points (up 0.1%). The BSE Mid Cap index closed up by 0.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day flat.

Asian stock markets finished on a mixed note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng stood down by 0.9% and the Nikkei was trading up by 0.1%.

European markets were trading on a positive note. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.1%. The DAX was trading up by 0.2%, while the CAC 40 was up by 0.6%.

The rupee was trading at 68.93 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Speaking of the general mood surrounding stock markets, note that since March 2019, the Indian markets have rallied sharply.

This is seen as a welcome breather after the correction seen in 2018.

Small and mid-cap stocks were the first ones in the line of fire, and also the worst hit in 2018.

The benchmark indices, however, managed to hold on longer. The Sensex even went on to hit an all-time high around the end of August. But the Indian markets fell sharply during September, triggered by the unfolding of the IL&FS crisis. The market correction got worse in October as the US-China trade-war tensions and liquidity tightness in the domestic NBFC sector severely dented market sentiment.

In November 2018, the markets attempted a short-lived turnaround, but it wasn't enough to bring back the bulls.

Subsequently, the markets treaded in an indecisive zone.

But there's a pick-up in market sentiments now.

The BSE Sensex is back to making new highs every day. It is just a few points away from the 40,000-mark.

Mid and small cap indices have also started rallying and are up quite a bit from their recent lows.

As a result, India managed to outperform most of the other major economies during the second half of the financial year 2018-19 (H2: 2018-19).

In a recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp, Ankit Shah presented a chart showing the performance of the some of the major world economies during H2: 2018-19 in dollar terms. Here it is:

Indian Stock Markets Outperform Most Peers

As we can see, from October 2018 to March 2019, the BSE Sensex increased by 6.8% in rupee terms and 11.7% in dollar terms.

Brazil, Indonesia, and China are the only other major economies that did better than India during this period.

Will the trend continue going forward?

Let's wait and watch...

Capacit'e Infraprojects share price was in focus today as the company reported it has bagged orders worth around Rs 4 billion in Mumbai.

The orders are from two real estate developers Oberoi Realty and K Raheja Corp.

After securing these two orders, the company's total order book has reached around Rs 77 billion.

As per the news, Capacit'e has got an order from K Raheja Corp for construction work of a commercial project at Worli. It has also bagged a contract for Oberoi Realty's Sky City project at Borivali.

In the news from aviation sector, Jet Airways share price was in focus today as the company's founder Naresh Goyal has pledged 26% stake in the ailing airline.

The pledging was done as security for loans from Punjab National Bank, according to a regulatory filing.

Last month, Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal quit the board of cash-strapped carrier as part of a debt resolution plan.

Earlier this week, Naresh Goyal told lenders seeking to rescue the carrier that he will pledge the rest of his shares to them on condition they release the promised interim loan funding of Rs 15 billion without delay.

The pledging of Goyal's remaining shares is critical to the plan by the banks to sell a controlling stake in the airline to a new investor.

Meanwhile, Etihad Airways which is Jet's second largest shareholder, is planning a board meeting to discuss the revival plan proposed by the lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI).

Reportedly, Etihad has stuck to the demand that it should be exempted from the takeover norm that requires investors to make an open offer for a further 20% stake if they exceed a 25% threshold.

Jet's lenders have been holding talks with Etihad and reached out to private equity investor TPG and government-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).

The debt laden airline's CEO told employees that the airline is working to secure interim funding to get more planes flying.

A lawyer representing the airline's pilots wrote to the CEO, saying they would be forced to "resort to all constitutional and legal methods" if the outstanding salaries weren't cleared by April 14 and future salaries by the 1st of each month.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Speaking of airlines, while looking at the current demand-supply scenario in the aviation industry, it is important to look at how air passenger traffic is growing.

In February, domestic air passenger traffic reported its lowest monthly passenger traffic growth since January 2015. It registered a marginal annual growth of 5.6%.

Similarly, in January, the number of passengers flown by domestic airlines grew at 9.1% YoY, while in December, it increased by 13% YoY. This is way lower than the historical growth rate of 20% between 2014-2018 period.

As per Research Analyst Sarvajeet Bodas, a slowdown in passenger growth is due to several factors. These include frequent flight cancellations due to grounding of fund-starved Jet Airways' aircraft, pilot shortages faced by IndiGo, NOTAMs (notice to airmen) at various airports, and a rise in airfare etc.

In the last 5 years, we saw a surge of middle-class traveling by plane. But when the ticket price goes up, many of them prefer an alternate mode of transportation.