After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets pared gains and slipped into the red during closing hours.

Benchmark indices ended the last trading in the red but registered an impressive 2022 despite a turbulent year where most global indices lost ground.

During the day, indices remained flat for most of the session but tanked sharply in the final hour with Sensex shedding almost 0.5%. The fall was largely due to selling witnessed in index heavyweight stocks.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 293 points (down 0.5%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 86 points (down 0.5%).

Bajaj Finserv, Coal India, and Titan were among the top gainers today.

SBI Life Insurance, ICICI Bank, and Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,229, down by 51 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets settled on a positive note. The BSE MidCap inched 0.4% higher while the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.8% higher.

Sectoral indices ended on a mixed note with stocks in the realty sector, oil and gas sector, and metal sector witnessing heavy buying.

While stocks in the FMCG sector, banking sector, and power sector witnessed selling.

Shares of Solar Industries, Jindal Steel and Power, and RBL Bank hit their 52-week highs today.

Bucking the downtrend, the CEAT share price rose 0.7% today on the NSE. CEAT shares have fallen recently owing to three possible reasons.

Asian share markets ended on a positive note.

The Hang Seng inched higher by 0.2%, while the Shanghai Composite index edged higher by 0.5%. The Nikkei ended flat today.

US stock futures are trading on a negative note. Dow futures are trading down 0.3% while Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.4%.

The rupee is trading at 82.7 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 54,940 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.6% at Rs 69,362 per kg.
 

Why Lotus Chocolate's share price is rising

In news from the food and Tobacco sector, shares of Lotus Chocolate jumped 5% today.

This rise came after a unit of Reliance Retail Ventures agreed to buy a majority stake in the Indian chocolate maker for Rs 740 million (m).

The FMCG arm, Reliance Consumer Products, is the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures acquired Lotus Chocolate company from the current promoter and promoter group of the company.

It has also announced an open offer to the public shareholders of Lotus for 26%.

The capital infused will help drive the growth and expansion of the company into a comprehensive confectionery, cocoa, chocolate derivatives, and related products manufacturer across industrial and consumer markets.

Lotus Chocolate is well known as a business partner for the supply of cocoa and chocolate products. It sources fine-quality cocoa beans, processes them, and delivers the finest chocolates.

HG Infra wins NHAI Project

Moving on to news from the engineering sector, shares of HG Infra Engineering jumped 6.9% today.

This rally came on the back of the company receiving a letter of award (LOA) from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for a project in Haryana.

The scope of the project entails the construction of a 6-lane Greenfield Karnal Ring Road starting from NH44 near Village Shamgarh and terminating at Karnal -Munak Road near Village Samalakha under Bharatmala Pariyojana in Haryana.

HG Infra's bid was Rs 9.9 bn, while NHAI estimated the project cost was Rs 7.4 bn. The construction of a 34.5 km ring road is scheduled to be completed in 730 days.

In November, the company also bagged a major project from Adani Road Transport.

HG Infra Engineering is primarily engaged in the business of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) relating to roads, bridges, flyovers, and infrastructure contract works and related activities.
 

Skipper bags 4G saturation projects

In another news from the engineering sector, the share price of Skipper clinched its 52-week high today.

Homegrown power transmission and distribution (T&D) structure manufacturer Skipper has bagged a contract worth Rs 25.7 m from BSNL.

The contract is for the supply and erection of ground-based telecom towers, installation of infrastructure Items, and subsequent O&M for 5 years extendable to 5 more years in the uncovered villages of India under 4G saturation projects.

The works are to be executed in Rajasthan (Rs 13.5 m) and Orissa (Rs 12.2 m) and include the development of approximately 3,350 tower location sites.

Skipper is one of the leading companies in the power transmission & distribution and the polymer segment.

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