After opening the day on a flat note, Indian share markets turned volatile during the afternoon session and fell hard as selling was seen in banking and auto stocks.

Benchmark indices ended near the day's low as the majority of stocks from the index ended on a negative note.

The fall can be attributed to the overnight tepid close for US equities and negative US stock futures.

Hurting the sentiment further was a rise in the US dollar to a one-month high, as Federal Reserve policymakers continued to talk up the need for further interest rate hikes.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 652 points (down 1.1%)

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 198 points (down 1.1%)

Adani Ports, L&T, and Infosys were among the top gainers today.

IndusInd Bank, Apollo Hospitals, and Bajaj Finserv on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,731, down by 273 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets ended on a negative note. The BSE Midcap index ended down by 1.3% while the BSE Smallcap index ended lower by 0.9%.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the power sector and capital goods sector witnessing maximum buying.

On the other hand, stocks in the banking sector, auto sector, metal sector, and oil & gas sector witnessed maximum selling pressure.

Hindustan Zinc's share price cooled off today after rising earlier this week. This could be a good time to keep Hindustan Zinc in your watchlist as it may be a direct beneficiary of the zinc squeeze.

Shares of Adani Transmission, Eicher Motors, and Solar Industries hit their 52-week highs today.

Adani group stocks are rising, continuing their momentum.

Adani Ports, Reliance, and Bharti Airtel were among the most active shares on the BSE today.

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. The Nikkei ended the day lower by 0.1%, while the Hang Seng inched higher by 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite ended 0.6% lower.

The rupee is trading at 79.8 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 51,525 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 1.3% at Rs 55,712 per kg.

Of late, the gold price is falling while silver isn't far behind. Silver price is also falling as industrial demand for silver is under pressure while a stronger US dollar is adding to worries.

Once the Fed signals an end to the rate hikes (or hints at it) and when investors are confident the US economy will emerge from the recession, that's when we see gold and silver prices recovering.

Speaking of stock markets, Chartist Brijesh Bhatia talks about why crude oil could crash, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

Crude oil prices have fallen close to key technical support levels.

In news from the energy sector, shares of Adani Green Energy jumped 7% today.

Adani Group yesterday confirmed that it received provisional approval for renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka. The group also clarified that the deal is yet to sign any definitive agreement.

Adani Group-backed Adani Green Energy has received provisional approval from the Sri Lankan government for two wind projects of 286 MW in Manner and 234 MW IN Pooneryn with an investment of $500 m.

In replying to the query on investment, the company in its statement said:

We wish to submit that the company, in its normal course, keeps on exploring various business opportunities.

Please note that at this point in time, the Company has received the provisional approval only, whereas it is yet to sign any definitive agreement which would require any disclosure.

Note that the renewable energy arm of the Adani group has plans to add around 3.5-4 gigawatts of greenfield renewable capacity annually for the next seven to eight years.

The company recently announced its results where profit surged by 48% to Rs 6.8 bn backed by robust revenue growth which was aided by capacity addition and improved solar and wind CUF.

Here's how the company has performed so far in 2022:

Moving on to news from the travel support services sector, the share price of IRCTC gained 4% today in an otherwise weak market.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) - the ticketing arm of Indian Railway has floated a tender to hire a consultant for the digital monetization of its user data.

It plans to generate Rs 10 bn in revenues through digital monetization.

The company has a large bank of data related to every online railway ticket ever generated as it is the country's only railway ticketing platform.

The company's e-tender document said:

Indian Railways generates enormous significant data which has a scope for several opportunities for monetization of digital data.

Indian Railways desires to monetize the data in customer/vendor applications and internal applications of Indian Railways by conducting various businesses with both Govt. and Private Sectors viz Tours and travels, Hotel, Financing, Infrastructure development, Insurance Sector, etc. for generating revenues and also to enhance facilitation and further improve the services.

Note that IRCTC has a monopoly as is the only authorized entity by the Indian railways to offer online railway tickets. Effectively, it has a 100% market share in this space.

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