Indian share markets ended today's lackluster session on a negative note as benchmark indices came under pressure during closing hours.

Investors were concerned that the strong US retail sales data could push the Federal Reserve to sustain its aggressive rate hike stance.

Meanwhile, FII selling dampened sentiment. FIIs on Wednesday continued to sell stocks in a second straight session, according to provisional data.

Both Sensex and Nifty saw a sharp fall in the last half hour.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 230 points (down 0.4%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 66 points (down 0.4%).

L&T, ICICI Bank, and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers today.

M&M, Titan, and Maruti, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 18,369, down by 110 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets settled lower. The BSE MidCap fell 0.4% while the BSE SmallCap index ended 0.3% lower.

Barring capital goods stocks, all sectoral indices ended on a negative note with stocks in the auto sector and power sector witnessing most of the selling.

Shares of Timken India and Godfrey Philips hit their 52-week highs today.

Kotak Bank and L&T were amongst the most active shares on the BSE today.

Asian shares ended on a negative note. The Hang Seng fell 1.2% while the Shanghai Composite ended 0.2% lower. The Nikkei ended down by 0.4%.

The rupee is trading at 81.62 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.3% at Rs 52,924 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 1.1% at Rs 61,281 per kg.
 

Paytm Shares Continue Downtrend

Paytm shares crashed 10% today after it was reported yesterday that SoftBank Group Corp will sell shares worth up to US$215 m (Rs 17.5 bn) via a block deal.

As of September 2022, SoftBank had a 17.5% stake in the fintech company. The stock is being sold in a range of Rs 555-601.45 per share, according to a term sheet.

The lower end of the range was at a 7.7% discount to yesterday's closing price. The final price in the sale will be set later today.

This is just one of the block deals which Paytm has seen in the past couple of months. Earlier, SoftBank booked nearly US$50 bn in losses by selling Paytm shares.

The block deal comes a day after the lock-in period for Paytm investors ended.

After today's fall, Paytm shares are now down 70% from their all-time high.

IT Index May Outperform Nifty 50

On the weekly ratio chart of Nifty IT Index / Nifty50, the ratio has reversed after testing the previous breakouts. The resistance has turned support on the charts (marked in green).

Nifty IT - Nifty 50 Ratio Chart

(Click on image to enlarge)

The ratio heading northwards means an outperformance of the IT Index over Nifty 50.

The sine wave indicators on the charts signal the IT index is likely to outperform over Nifty 50 in the coming weeks.
 

A Roadblock for 2-Wheeler EV Companies

Moving on to news from the electric vehicle space, sales and production of electric two-wheelers are set to take a hit just when the demand was rising, with the government stalling subsidy disbursal amounting to Rs 10 bn (around Rs 1,000 crore) to half a dozen companies.

The companies also include unlisted Hero Electric and Okinawa Autotech.

Subsidy payments were to be made under the FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) initiative, the government's flagship incentive scheme aimed at boosting manufacturing and sales of EVs.

But the payments have stopped since April 2022 due to alleged violations of local value addition criteria under the scheme.

Note that electric two-wheeler sales have been inching up in the last year after the government revised upward incentives under FAME-II.

Sales of electric two-wheelers stood at 358,318 units in the first seven months of the financial year. Sales of EV two-wheelers till October are higher by about 55% over 231,378 units sold in the whole of the last financial year.

However, they are about a third of the targeted sales of 1 million units in the financial year 2023.

In other news, EV maker Ather Energy said it's on course to increase its revenues fivefold year on year this fiscal to Rs 20-22 bn.

This comes on the back of the surge in sales and increased capacity from a new plant.

In the first seven months of this financial year, the Hero MotoCorp-backed company sold about 35,480 e-scooters. The monthly sales run rate has exceeded 8,000 units in recent months and the company is well on its way to producing and selling around 13,000 units a month by the January-March quarter.

Ather Energy registered a market share of nearly 10% in the e-scooter market in the last three months, up from 6% at the beginning of the year.
 

Strong Quarter for Jewelry Industry

According to rating agency ICRA, the domestic jewelry industry is estimated to have registered a healthy growth of 60% in the quarter gone by compared to pre-Covid levels.

The rating agency said that going forward, some contraction is expected. But the industry growth in full-year this time is likely to be 12% YoY, driven by robust growth in the first quarter and steady wedding and festive demand.

Note that jewelry is a sub-segment of the marriage industry. The marriage industry in India is India's fourth largest industry ahead of cars, steel, and technology.
 

Why R Systems International Surged 20% Today

The share price of R Systems International surged 20% today after Global firm Blackstone acquired a majority stake in the company for US$359 million (Rs 2,904 crore).

R Systems is a leading provider of IT services, specializing in digital product engineering.

Founded in 1993 by Satinder Singh Rekhi, the company serves over 250 customers in the technology, media, telecom, and financial services sectors globally.

Blackstone has acquired the stake from founder Satinder Singh Rekhi and other current promoters.

Satinder Singh Rekhi and the other promoters currently hold a 52% stake in R Systems, which Blackstone will acquire for Rs 245 per share.

Blackstone will also launch a conditional delisting offer, at a price of Rs 246 per share.

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