Share markets in India are presently trading marginally lower.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 114 points, down 0.2% at 50,249 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 4 points.

ITC and HDFC Bank are among the top gainers today. BPCL and Coal India are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 1.2%.

The BSE Small-Cap index is trading down by 0.8%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the energy sector, are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

On the other hand, stocks from the software sector, are witnessing most of the buying interest

US stock futures are trading mixed today.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down 21 points (down 0.2%) while Dow Futures are trading flat.

The rupee is trading at 72.56 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 44,985 per 10 grams.

In global markets, gold rates were flat ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting.

Gold prices in India struggled amid a similar trend in global markets as investors remained cautious ahead of the US Fed policy announcement. On MCX, gold futures were up 0.2% to Rs 44,917 per 10 grams. In the previous session, gold had dipped 0.2%.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is AU Small Finance Bank.

AU Small Finance Bank announced that it has raised Rs 6.3 billion through the issuance of 5 million equity shares under its Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP).

"The Issue was launched post-market hours on March 9, 2021, with a floor price of Rs 1,181.1 per share and witnessed strong reception from both domestic and international institutional investors. The entire QIP was subscribed by sovereign wealth funds, large foreign portfolio investors, life insurance company and domestic mutual funds," the company said in a statement.

AU Small Finance Bank intends to use the net proceeds for supporting long-term growth aligned to the bank's internal risk appetite, to maintain sufficient headroom over and above the regulatory capital adequacy requirements, and for general corporate requirements or any other purposes, it said.

The allottees who have been allotted more than 5% of the equity shares offered in the issue were the Government of Singapore (26.7%), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (5.9%), HDFC Life Insurance Co Ltd (23.6%), and Small Cap World Fund, Inc (39.7%).

"We have successfully closed the first-ever QIP of the Bank. We received a strong reception from global and local investors which is a testament to the quality of our banking franchise and our future outlook," said Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO of AU Bank.

The bank has emerged stronger after the pandemic which gives it greater confidence to continue serving the small businesses and retail borrowers in the underserved and unserved rural and semi-urban regions of the country, Agarwal said.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.

At the time of writing, shares of AU Small Finance Bank were trading down by 2.2% on the BSE.

Speaking of the stock markets, India's #1 trader, Vijay Bhambwani, talks about how to select stocks for day trading, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily.

Tune in here to find out more:

Moving on to news from the finance sector...

Carlyle to Sell 4% Stake in SBI Cards & Payment Services for US$ 513 Million

Private equity firm Carlyle has launched a block deal to sell around a 4% stake in the country's second-largest credit card firm SBI Cards & Payment Services to raise around US$ 513 million.

The offer price range is Rs 981.8 - Rs 1,022.1 per share (the upper end reflecting a 3.9% discount to the closing price on 16th March 2021).

Bank of America Securities is the sole bookrunner to the transaction.

SBI Cards & Payment Services, previously known as SBI Cards, is a payment solutions provider in India. The company was launched in October 1998 by the State Bank of India, India's largest bank, and GE Capital. In December 2017, State Bank of India and The Carlyle Group acquired GE Capital`s stake in the company.

SBI Cards & Payment Services hit the markets in March 2020 with a mega US$ 1.6 billion initial public offering (IPO). Carlyle held a 15.9% stake in the company at the end of trade on 16th March 2021.

In a recent board meet, SBI Cards had approved raising of funds by way of issuance of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) aggregating to Rs 20 billion in one or more tranches over a period of time.

How this deal pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

Speaking of small caps, note that since the lows in March 2020, the smallcap index has gained more than 100%.

While caution is indeed warranted, Richa Agrawal, Research Analyst at Equitymaster, thinks there is still a lot more steam left to this smallcap rally.

Despite rallying more than 100% since the March 2020 lows, Richa believes small-cap stocks are set for a massive up move in 2021 and beyond. Here's what she wrote in a recent edition of Profit Hunter...

• The P/E for smallcap index doesn't make sense. There are thousands of listed small companies. Some have negative earnings. The base is not valid data to work with.
  
  That said, the closest proxy to relative valuations is the Smallcap to Sensex ratio,
  
  Historically, this ratio has averaged 0.43x. In the previous mega runs of the smallcap index, this ratio has gone as high as 0.75x.
  
  In January 2018, when small-caps peaked, the ratio was at 0.58x.
  
  Guess where this ratio is now after a 100% run-up in the smallcap index?
  
  0.38.
  
  It's lower than the median over 2 decades.

Richa believes if you focus on the quality of business, margin of safety in valuations, and an optimum asset allocation, you are likely to create huge wealth for yourself.