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

Benchmark indices defied the weak global market trend and turned sharply higher in the afternoon session as Russia and Ukraine began talks at the Belarus border.

Despite the ongoing conflict between the two countries, Sensex and Nifty showed strength, supported by buying in metal, IT, realty, and public sector bank stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 389 points (up 0.7%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 135 points (up 0.8%).

Hindalco and Tata Steel were among the top gainers today.

HDFC Life Insurance and Dr. Reddy's Lab, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 16,776, up by 118 points, at the time of writing.

Both, the BSE MidCap index and the BSE SmallCap index ended up by 0.8%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector, oil & gas sector, and energy sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Auto and banking stocks, on the other hand, witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of Fine Organic Industries and Narayana Hrudayalaya hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note today.

The Hang Seng ended down by 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite ended up by 0.3%. The Nikkei ended up by 0.2% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a weak note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 440 points.

The rupee is trading at 75.34 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.9% at Rs 50,666 per 10 grams.

In news from the pharma sector, Biocon Biologics was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Biocon Biologics (BBL) will acquire the biosimilars business of Viatris Inc. to create a fully integrated global biosimilars enterprise, the biopharmaceutical major said today.

The company announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Viatris where the latter will receive consideration of up to US$3.3 bn, including cash up to US$2.3 bn and Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) in BBL, valued at US$1 bn.

The board of directors of both companies has approved the transaction, as per a statement from Biocon.

BBL will have a comprehensive portfolio comprising its current range of commercialized insulins, oncology, and immunology biosimilars as well as several other biosimilar assets currently under development.

BBL also has access to the vaccines portfolio through its previously announced partnership with Serum Institute Life Sciences (SILS).

'This strategic combination brings together the complementary capabilities and strengths of both partners and prepares us for the next decade of value creation for all our stakeholders,' Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson, Biocon Biologics, said.

The deal will enable BBL to attain a robust commercial engine in the developed markets of the US and Europe and will fast-track our journey of building a strong global brand. It will also make Biocon future-ready for the next wave of products.

As far as the financial rationale of the agreement is concerned, Biocon said that post-closure of the deal, BBL will realize the full revenue and associated profits from its partnered products, a step-up from its existing arrangement with Viatris.

The deal is expected to expand BBL's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) base and strengthen overall financials, enabling investments for sustained long-term growth, Biocon said in a statement, adding that the deal will lead to operational efficiencies across the complete value chain and build agile capabilities in development, manufacturing, regulatory, supply chain and commercialization in developed and emerging markets.

'Combining Viatris' biosimilars business with BBL accelerates the build out of our commercial capability in developed markets in order to become a strong global brand with a direct presence in US, Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand,' the company said.

BBL currently has a portfolio of 20 biosimilars. The acquisition of biosimilars assets of Viatris significantly strengthens BBL's position in providing affordable access to patients through its portfolio in diabetes, oncology, immunology, and other non-communicable diseases.

Biocon Biologics' share price ended the day down by 11.2% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the telecom sector...

Airtel Shareholders Approve Google Investment

Bharti Airtel shareholders have approved the issue of preferential shares to Google for its about Rs 75 bn investment in the company to buy a 1.3% stake.

A special resolution to approve Google's investment was approved by over 99% of the shareholders, according to the voting result of an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) filed by Airtel on Sunday.

The EGM of the company was held on 26 February 2022.

Internet giant Google last month announced investments worth US$ 1 bn or about Rs 75 bn in Bharti Airtel.

Google made the investment as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund.

The investment comprises a US$ 700 m equity investment in Bharti Airtel at a price per share of Rs 734 and US$ 300 m will go towards implementing commercial agreements, which will include investments in scaling Airtel's offerings.

Bharti Airtel's proposal to spend Rs 1.8 tn in business transactions with subsidiaries - Indus Towers, Nxtra, and Bharti Hexacom - was also approved by the majority of the shareholders.

According to the EGM's agenda, Bharti Airtel has plans to invest Rs 880 bn in business with mobile tower company Indus Towers, Rs 150 bn for availing the services of datacentre firm Nxtra, and transactions of up to Rs 140 bn with Bharti Hexacom.

Bharti Airtel will invest up to Rs 170 bn on transactions with Indus Towers in the next four financial years and Rs 200 bn in 2025-26. The company had cited 5G developments globally and in India as the main reasons to invest heavily in the telecom infrastructure firm.

Considering the increased requirements of passive infrastructure during 5G network rollouts, Airtel plans to invest a higher amount of up to Rs 200 bn with Indus Towers during the financial year 2025-26.

Airtel's share price ended the day down by 0.4% on the BSE.

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