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

Benchmark indices languished in the negative zone, exhibiting lackluster movement for the major part of the trading, before recouping losses at close led by fresh buying in auto and financial shares.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 21 points (down 0.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 6 points (down 0.1%).

Asian Paints and Grasim Industries were among the top gainers today.

Divi's Lab and Titan Company, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,546, down by 16 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the consumer durables sector and telecom sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

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

Shares of Adani Total Gas and Siemens 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 1.1% and 0.2%, respectively. The Nikkei ended down by 1% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a positive note today with the Dow Futures trading up by 40 points.

The rupee is trading at 75.77 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 47,907 per 10 grams.

In news from the banking sector, IndusInd Bank was among the top buzzing stocks today.

IndusInd Bank informed that the bank has received an intimation from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that it has granted its approval to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), shareholder of the bank, to raise stake in the private lender to up to 9.99%.

LIC currently holds 4.95% of the total issued and paid-up capital of IndusInd.

The said approval is valid for a period of one year i.e. up to 8 December 2022.

The approval is subject to compliance with the provisions of the Master Direction on prior approval for acquisition of shares or voting rights in private sector banks dated 19 November 2015 and Master Direction on ownership in private sector banks dated 12 May 2016, provisions of the applicable regulations issued by the market regulator, provisions of the foreign exchange management act, 1999 and any other guidelines/regulations and statutes, as applicable. The approval is valid for a period of one year.

The RBI norms mandate that every person or an entity who intends to make an acquisition in private banks of more than 5% stake, has to take prior approval from the central bank.

LIC's raising of stake is subject to compliance with the provisions of the directions given by RBI in 2015 and required regulations by the market regulator.

Last month, Kotak Mahindra Bank had informed that LIC has received approval from the RBI to raise its stake in lender to up to 9.99%.

IndusInd Bank share price ended the day down by 0.2% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the insurance sector...

Jhunjhunwala-Backed Star Health Lists At 6% Discount Over Issue Price

Shares of Star Health and Allied Insurance made a tepid debut on the bourses today as the scrip got listed at Rs 845 on NSE, a discount of 6.1% to its issue price of Rs 900.

On the BSE, the company debuted at Rs 848.8, a discount of 5.7%.

A day ahead of listing, shares of Star Health were trading at a discount of Rs 70-75 per share in the grey market.

The IPO of Star Health Insurance ran between 30 November 2021 and 2 December 2021. The company sold its shares in the range of Rs 870-900 apiece.

The company was eyeing to raise Rs 72.5 bn via the initial stake sale, including the issuance of fresh equity shares worth Rs 20 bn and Rs 52. 5 bn offer for sale (OFS) from existing promoters and shareholders.

However, the issue was merely subscribed 79% during the three-day book-building process, as institutional and HNI bidders gave IPO a miss.

Star Health and Allied Insurance Company had to trim its IPO size to Rs 64 bn to make it sail through. The OFS size was pruned to Rs 44 bn from Rs 52.5 bn.

Despite the backing of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a dominant presence in an underpenetrated market and robust growth prospects, the issue failed to excite the investors.

Shares of Star Health ended the day up by 0.8% on the BSE.

Speaking of the insurance sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the investment assets of non-life insurers and life insurers over the past 10 years: