After opening the day on a negative note, Indian share markets continued the downtrend throughout the session and ended deep in the red.

Bears roared as Covid-19 scare in China triggered slowdown fears. With today's fall, Indian markets  settled lower for a fourth consecutive day.

Indian investors felt the pressure from negative global cues as central bankers continued to maintain a hawkish stance on inflation and future rate hikes.

Wall street equities fell sharply overnight after third-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised higher, while unemployment benefits claim for November also increased lesser than expected.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 981 points (down 1.6%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed lower by 321 points (down 1.7%).

Divis Laboratories and Titan were among the top gainers today.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, and Hindalco on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 17,876, down by 303 points, at the time of writing.

Broader markets settled on a negative note and the fall was more severe. The BSE MidCap index plunged over 3% while the BSE SmallCap index was the biggest loser and dived 4.1%.

All sectoral indices ended deep in red with stocks in the power sector, realty sector, oil & gas sector, and metal sector witnessing most of the selling.

Among the best steel stocks, Hindalco and Tata Steel plunged over 5%.

Select pharma stocks bucked the trend and ended on a positive note. Cipla's share price is rising for the past few sessions now following the recent spike in Covid infections in China.

Asian stock markets ended on a weak note. The Hang Seng inched lower by 0.4%, while the Shanghai Composite index ended lower by 0.3%. The Nikkei edged 1% lower.

US stock futures are trading on a mixed note. Dow futures are trading up by 0.2% while Nasdaq futures are trading lower by 0.1%.

The rupee is trading at 82.86 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading higher by 0.3% at Rs 54,668 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.9% at Rs 69,144 per kg.

Here are five reasons why Indian share markets plunged today.

#1 US GDP Data

Data from the US on consumer confidence, jobless claims, and Q3 GDP numbers surprised on the upside which increased the risks of more Fed rate hikes.US Q3 GDP recorded a growth of 3.2%, above the estimate of 2.9%. Initial jobless claims rose slightly to 216,000, a beat of the 222,000 estimates. This has made investors nervous over earnings downgrades and credit risk.

#2 Covid Worries

Covid problems have once again started to mount up with cases increasing in China. This sudden spurt has worried investors across the globe.

#3 Japan's Inflation

Putting Asian markets under pressure was Japan's core consumer inflation data which hit a fresh 40-year high of 3.7% in November as companies continued to pass on rising costs to households.

Due to this Japan's Nikkei lost over 1% and was set for its worst week since mid-June.

#4 Wall Street Cues

Wall Street indices ended sharply lower which spread negative sentiment across the globe. The Dow Jones ended with a downside of over 1% while the cut was sharper in the Nasdaq at 2.2%. This sharp decline was on the back of fear of the Fed's rate hike.

#5 Crude Oil Prices Rise

Oil prices rose more than US$1 today on expectations of a drop in Russian crude supply, which helped offset worries of a hit to US transport fuel demand growth as a looming Artic storm threatens travel during the holiday season.
 

Godrej Properties to develop Rs 30 billion revenue potential project

In news from the real estate sector, Godrej Properties was among the top buzzing stocks today.

Real estate player Godrej Properties on Friday announced that it will develop a 14.27-acre land parcel for a residential group housing project in Gurugram, Haryana.

The proposed project development will have an estimated revenue potential of nearly Rs 30 bn.

The housing project will comprise predominantly premium residential apartments.

This will be one of the largest residential development projects of Godrej Properties in Gurugram and would strengthen its presence in the city.

Godrej Properties, which is part of the business conglomerate Godrej Group, is one of the leading real estate developers in the country.

Take a look at the chart below to see its performance in 2022.

Axiscades Technologies acquires Mistral Solutions

Moving on to news from the IT sector, engineering solutions provider Axiscades Technologies today acquired Mistral Solutions, a leader in semiconductor, embedded electronics, defense, and product engineering capabilities.

The acquisition initiated in 2017, was executed over four phases at a total cost of Rs 2.9 billion (bn).

With the completion of this acquisition, the company strengthens its position as a technology leader, providing cutting-edge product design and development services to its customers for a wide range of applications.

The acquisition bolsters the company's ability in the digital engineering, embedded electronics, and systems engineering domains, enabling it to make an even bigger impact and add value to collective clients across industries and geographies.

The alliance will not only produce strong and consistent earnings and margin expansion for the combined enterprise, but it will also enable the organization to take advantage of new opportunities in the engineering and the R&D industry.

Shares of the company have given multi-bagger returns of 170% in a year despite market volatility.

Meghmani Organics forays into nano urea

Meghmani Organics today announced that it signed a licensing agreement with one of India's leading domestic fertilizer manufacturers to produce nano urea fertilizer.

Nano urea is a liquid fertilizer that is effective in enhancing nutritional quality and crop productivity and is environmentally safe.

The company will incur a capex of Rs 1.5 bn for setting up a nano urea plant in Gujarat.

The annual capacity is pegged at 50 m bottles (500 ml) a year.

The company is expected to commence commercial production by Q4 of the financial year 2024.

The demand for urea in India stands at 35 million metric tons (MMT) per annum, of which nearly 29 MMT is produced domestically while the balance is imported.

The Meghmani Group manufactures green and blue pigment products used to manufacture printing ink, plastic, paints, textiles, leather, and rubber.

It also manufactures a variety of commonly used pesticides for crop and non-crop applications.

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