After opening on a positive note, Indian share markets picked up pace as the session progressed and ended the day marginally higher.

Benchmark indices gyrated in a narrow trading band on Monday as investors awaited the consumer inflation numbers for May and the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for April later today.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 99 points (up 0.2%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 38 points (up 0.2%).

BPCL, HCL Tech, and NTPC were among the top gainers today.

Cipla, Titan, and Maruti Suzuki on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

Check out the NSE Nifty heatmap to get the complete list of gainers and losers.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,694, up by 84 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets ended on a positive note. The BSE Midcap index ended 0.5% higher and BSE SmallCap ended 0.7% higher.

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

On the other hand, stocks from the capital goods sector and banking sector witnessed selling pressure.

Shares of HEG and Sonata Software hit their 52-week highs 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...

Asian stock markets ended on a mixed note. The Nikkei ended higher by 0.5%. The Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite ended flat.

The rupee is trading at 82.43 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading flat at Rs 59,876 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading 0.2% lower at Rs 73,655 per kg.

Speaking of stock markets, is AI going to eat the lunch of the average retail investor? AI or Artificial Intelligence is one of the hottest topics of discussion these days.

You see, the computers that we have used up till now couldn't think on their own. Their outputs were entirely based on a set of instructions or the code as they are called in the technical language.

To put it crudely, no matter how fast or how efficient the computer is, it is still a calculating machine at its core. However, AI is a different beast altogether.

It is an intelligence that has been inspired by the natural or the human form of intelligence. In other words, it tries to mimic the human brain. In that case, will it pose a threat to the average retail investor? Will AI impact long-term returns for the small investor?
 

IndiGo Co-founder's Family to sell stake

In the news from the airline sector, the family of IndiGo's co-founder Rakesh Gangwal is likely to sell between 5-8% stake in the Indian airline's parent InterGlobe Aviation, according to the media report.

Rakesh Gangwal and his wife, Shobha Gangwal, hold 13.2% and 2.9%, respectively, in InterGlobe as of the March 2023 quarter.

As per the report, the Gangwal family will sell stakes in block deals when the lock-in for shares opens on 15 July 2023.

The block deal could be worth between Rs 50 bn and Rs 70 bn.

The Gangwal family has been steadily reducing stakes ever since the rift erupted between the co-founders. On 15 February 2023, the family sold approximately 4% of their stake for an estimated Rs 29 bn. Before that, on 8 September 2022, they had sold around 2.8% at Rs 20 bn.

Following the update, shares of Indigo fell 2% on Monday.

The entire airline sector took a beating when the first covid wave hit in 2020.

But with the onset of 2022, the industry has picked up the pace and started to recover.
 

Why is Cochin Shipyard's share price rising?

Moving on to news from the defense sector, the share price of Cochin Shipyard rallied 6% today after the company won a contract of Rs 3 bn from the Ministry of Defence.

The company has been declared as an L1 bidder by the Indian Navy for the MR/Mid-Life Upgrade of an Indian Naval Ship.

The final contract will be executed in due course. The estimated contract value is around Rs 3 bn, and the estimated duration is around 24 months.

Since the start of the calendar year 2023, the stock has lost 8% of its value.

It is among the top defense stocks in India with big growth stories.

Speaking of the defense sector, note that the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan has emphasized the need for self-reliance in security space.

Given the increasing focus on self-reliance, the Ministry of Defense (MoD), has set a target of doubling the defense production to US$ 25 bn by 2025.

That is why we believe that the defense sector could produce the next set of multibagger stocks over the long run.
 

Go Fashion tanks 5% today. Here's why...

Moving on to news from the textile sector, Shares of Go Fashion fell 5% in Monday's trade amid heavy volumes.

Against a two-week volume of 2,492 shares, the stock saw 5.28 lakh shares changing hands on BSE on a likely stake sale by Sequoia Capital.

As per earlier reports, the venture capital firm was looking to offload its entire 10.2% stake in the parent of Indian clothing brand Go Colors through a block deal today.

Following the development, the stock declined by 5.1% to hit a low of Rs 1133.3. As per the report, the floor price was set at Rs 1,135 per share, a 5% discount to Friday's closing price of Rs 1,194.

Sequoia Capital, till last year, held a 13.8% stake in Go Fashion. It had, however, launched a block deal in December 2022 to sell a 3.7% stake for Rs 2.3 bn.

The Go Fashion move came days after Sequoia Capital decided to split its businesses among China, India, and Southeast Asia operations into two independent firms, which will be run without any involvement of Sequoia going forward.

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