Photo by Big G Media on Unsplash

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

Benchmark indices ended in the green for the third consecutive session as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looked set to win four of the five key state elections.

However, a weak western market ahead of European Central Bank (ECB) & US CPI data and a rise in crude oil prices added volatility in between.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 817 points (up 1.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 250 points (up 1.5%).

HUL and Tata Steel were among the top gainers today.

Coal India and Tech Mahindra, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 16,564, up by 219 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the realty sector, metal sector and FMCG sector witnessing buying interest.

Shares of Balrampur Chini and Swan Energy hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today.

The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite ended up by 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively. The Nikkei ended up by 4% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note today with the Dow Futures trading down by 212 points.

The rupee is trading at 76.30 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 52,960 per 10 grams.

In news from the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Bharti Airtel advanced 2% in the early deals today, after the telecom major announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire 9% equity stake in Avaada CleanTN Project.

This is a special purpose vehicle formed for the purpose of owning and operating the Captive Power Plant.

The country's second largest telecom company has acquired 7.9 m equity shares in Avaada for Rs 78.8 m, it said in the stock exchange filing.

According to reports, Airtel, which is led by Sunil Bharti Mittal, had in November acquired a 5.2% stake in Avaada MHBuldhana, a solar power firm, for Rs 45.5 m in an all-cash deal.

Avaada MHBuldhana, a subsidiary of Avaada Energy, is a newly-formed entity that is developing a captive solar power plant in Maharashtra, reports said, adding that it will become operational this month.

Airtel had reported a 3% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 8.3 bn for the quarter ending 31 December 2021. It earned net profit of Rs 8.5 bn in the year-ago period.

The telecom major reported a 12.6% rise in revenues for the quarter under review, helped by tariff hikes and subscriber additions.

Bharti Airtel share price ended the day up by 0.7% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the engineering sector...

L&T Shares Rise After Construction Arm Bags Significant Orders

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) share price rose more than 3% today, after the company announced that its construction arm has secured 'significant' orders for its various businesses.

The company classifies orders worth Rs 10 - Rs 25 bn as significant.

The company has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order from IRCON International involving 25 kV Overhead Electrification, Signaling and Telecommunication, and associated works for 549 RKM/678 TKM railway lines pertaining to the Northeast Frontier Railway, it said in a stock exchange filing.

The project is part of the Union government's 'Mission Electrification' initiative aimed at electrifying the country's entire railway network to reduce carbon footprint as well as expenditure on diesel.

Also, the L&T's business of buildings and factories has secured a prestigious order from a global FMCG manufacturer for design and construction of a food processing facility in Gujarat, India.

The business has also secured an order to expand a super specialty hospital in Kolkata by 250 beds on design & build basis.

L&T is an Indian multinational conglomerate, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumbai.

The company is counted among world's top five construction companies.

L&T share price ended the day up by 1.9% on the BSE.

Speaking of the stock markets, a right investing process can help you win in the long term. It might offer some unexpected and undesirable results in the short term but lets you fare well when you average the outcomes.

According to Richa Agarwal, Senior Research Analyst at Equitymaster, any investment process should not be judged based on individual outcomes. Instead, it should have stood the test of the time.

Her smallcap service Hidden Treasure has had its fair share of failures. But sticking to a disciplined process meant that Hidden Treasure's internal rate of return (IRR) increased to 24.38% since inception.

This compares favourably to the IRRs of 9.6% for the Sensex, and 8.8% for the smallcap index in the same period (February 2008 - June 2020) as can be seen in the chart below.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The service's performance did suffer in the short term after the 2018 crash in smallcaps. However, the long term track record and the post Covid rebound underscores the strength of stock picking process.