Asian share markets are lower today, alongside US equity futures after stocks closed little changed on Wall Street and a gauge of volatility slid to the lowest level in more than a year.

The Nikkei is trading lower by 0.3% while the Hang Seng is trading by 0.2% higher. The Shanghai Composite is trading lower by 0.7%.

The S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged on Wednesday while the Dow dipped as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate earnings, including upbeat reports from medical technology companies, countered by weakness in Netflix shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.2% lower while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended flat.

Here's a table showing how US stocks performed on Wednesday:

Source: Equitymaster

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a flat note following the trend on SGX Nifty.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 81 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 16 points.

NTPC and Titan are among the top gainers today.

Infosys and Nestle on the other hand are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading 0.2% up and the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.3%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note. Stocks in the capital goods sector and consumer durables sector are witnessing buying.

On the other hand, stocks in the healthcare sector and realty sector witnessed selling.

Shares of ITC and GMR Airports hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at Rs 82.19 against the US dollar.

In commodity markets, gold prices are trading lower by Rs 62 at Rs 60,226 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading lower by 0.4% Rs 75,151 per 1 kg.

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...

Speaking of stock markets, the recent crash in IT stocks presents an interesting investment opportunity. Want to buy IT stocks, but not sure if the correction is over? Instead, you could use statistical arbitrage to capture the price divergence between TCS and Infosys.

Over the years, savvy investors realized that a strong correlation does exist between certain stocks.

This gave rise to a strategy termed pair trading which involves buying and selling two related stocks simultaneously in order to profit from the difference in their relative prices.
 

UltraTech Cement increases capacity

India's largest cement company, UltraTech Cement on Wednesday announced that it has commissioned 2.2 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) Brownfield expansion at its grinding unit at Patliputra, Bihar. With this, the units grinding capacity has increased to 4.7 mtpa.

The company's total grey cement manufacturing capacity in India now stands at 129.15 mtpa.

The cement manufacturer UltraTech Cement has said that this additional capacity will help the company to service the fast-growing cement demand in the East region and will also help to increase its blended cement ratio.

UltraTech Cement on 1 April 2023, reported its business update for the financial year 2022-23 and said that its consolidated sales volume grew by 12 YoY to 105.7 million (m) tonnes (mt) in the financial year 2023 against 94 mt posted in the previous financial year.

The cement manufacturers' grey cement volumes in India grew by 14% YoY in India at 100.1 mt against 88 mt posted last year. Its white cement volumes grew 11% to 1.6 mt against 1.5 mt.

Did you know that UltraTech Cement is one of the 5 stocks that hit a 52-week high recently? Ultratech Cement share price has been on the rise lately due to good quarterly updates and good financial prospects.

Take a look at the chart below:

Adani Ports to consider its first-ever buyback

Adani Ports board will meet on 22 April to consider its first and partial buyback of debt securities in the current financial year.

The securities denominated either in Indian Rs or US $ will be part of the buyback.

The move is likely aimed at boosting investors' confidence after an unprecedented attack by Hindenburg that alleged high debt levels and share price manipulation.

Following the release of a damaging report by Hindenburg Research in late January, Adani stocks went into a tailspin and ended up losing around $100 billion in market capitalization in the next few weeks.

Last month, US-based FII GQG Partners signed a Rs 150 bn deal with Adani Group promoter entity SB Adani Family Trust to buy stakes in Adani Ports, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission, and Adani Enterprises.
 

Equitas Small Finance Bank gets RBI's license approval

Equitas Small Finance Bank, on Wednesday, 19 April, said it has been granted the license to deal in foreign exchange for specified purposes by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Authorized dealer category 1 banks, also known as AD Cat I Banks, are the banks with an RBI license to buy and sell foreign exchange for specified purposes. Such banks aim to ease the foreign exchange facilities for non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Earlier in the day, AU SFB also received the RBI license to deal in foreign exchange.

Earlier this month, Equitas SFB reported its Q4 provisional business update. The bank's gross advances surged 36% YoY to Rs 280.6 bn, while the disbursements soared by 80% YoY to Rs 59.21 bne. The bank also saw an improvement in its total deposits, which came in at Rs 253.8 crore, up 34% YoY.

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