After making a flat start, Indian share markets swung between gains and losses as the session progressed but fell sharply during closing hours.

Benchmark indices fell on Thursday as investors juggled between the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and the weekly F&O expiry back home.

Globally, the US Fed hiked rates by 0.25% on Wednesday but signaled just one more hike this calendar year.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 289 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 75 points (down 0.4%).

Hindalco, Maruti Suzuki, and Nestle were among the top gainers today.

SBI, Bajaj Auto, and Asian Paints on the other hand were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,078 down by 81 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Midcap index fell 0.5% while the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.2% lower.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the power sector, and the telecom sector witnessing most of the buying.

On the other hand, stocks from the realty sector, and the IT sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of NCC hit their 52-week high today.

Now track the biggest movers of the stock market using the stocks to watch today section. This should help you keep updated with the latest developments...

Outside the home ground, Asian share markets ended on a mixed note.

At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei ended 0.2% lower, while the Hang Seng rose 2.3%. The Shanghai Composite ended higher by 0.6%.

The rupee is trading at 82.27 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.9% higher at Rs 59,283 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.5% at Rs 69,671 per kg.

Speaking of share markets, projecting a company's position and market share 10 years out or for that matter even 10 months ahead isn't an exact science.

However, with an unchallenged dominance in a particular segment, investors can find certain companies which are unlikely to lose their leadership anytime soon and are potential winners.
 

M&M to drive EV penetration in India

In news from the automobile sector, the share price of M&M rose 2% today.

Shares of Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) gained after two days of fall in the current session after International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, invested Rs 6 billion (bn) in the newly incorporated Last Mile Mobility Company (NewCo).

NewCo will house the last-mile mobility division, including three-wheelers and four-wheeler SCVs.

The investment will be in the form of compulsory convertible instruments, in one or more tranches.

This investment will result in ownership of between 9.9% to 13.6% for IFC in NewCo. The move is aimed at putting the expansion plans of its newly formed subsidiary.

Note that M&M has already announced its commitment of over a billion dollars to aggressively participate in the EV race and it expects a significant 30% of its total sales to come from electric SUVs by 2027.

The electric vehicle (EV) megatrend is a once-in-a-century revolution happening right in front of us.

The revolution has taken the auto sector by storm. All segments of the sector are ripe for disruption, and India's top EV stocks are set to benefit from this shift.

Take a look at the chart below, which shows the massive opportunity in the two-wheeler EVs.

It remains to be seen how the above developments pan out.
 

Maruti Suzuki to hike prices

Moving on, Maruti Suzuki on Thursday, announced its plan to increase the prices of its model range in April 2023 to partially offset the impact of overall inflation and regulatory requirements.

The auto major, however, did not share the quantum of the price hike it intends to implement from next month.

The company continues to witness increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and regulatory requirements.

While the company makes the maximum effort to reduce costs and partially offset the increase, it has become imperative to pass on some of the impacts through a price increase.

The company has planned this price increase for April 2023, which shall vary across models.

Apart from Maruti Suzuki, several automakers, including Honda Cars, Tata Motors, and Hero MotoCorp, have announced an increase in prices from April.
 

Why Vedanta's share price is falling

Moving on to news from the mining sector, the share price of Vedanta tanked 6% today following reports of chairman Anil Agarwal considering a minority stake sale in the company, a claim that the firm denied.

According to media reports, Agarwal was looking to sell less than 5% of the company to reduce the significant debt load of his commodities business empire. The move would be a last resort and only considered if other fundraising options failed.

The company denied the claim, with a representative calling the update untrue.

This is not the first time that the shares of the company have displayed such a steep decline, a similar decline was visible earlier this month.

While miner Vedanta has been tumbling, Vedanta Resources will be bolstered by its associate firms' investment in areas like semiconductors, display glass, renewables, optical fiber, and transmission.

By forming a recent joint venture with Foxconn to manufacture semiconductor chips, the company has made its space among India's top 5 semiconductor stocks.

Also as China tries to move up the technology supply chain with advanced chips, the US is getting wary, which makes semiconductors the top Indian megatrends.

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