Share markets in India are presently trading on a negative note.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 323 points, down 0.7% at 45,780 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 109 points.

Nestle India and Britannia are among the top gainers today. UPL and UltraTech Cement are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.9%

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

On the sectoral front, barring the FMCG sector, all sectors are trading in red with stocks from the finance sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street indices.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 52 points (down 0.4%) while Dow Futures are trading down by 10 points (flat).

The rupee is trading at 73.66 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 49,150 per 10 grams.

Gold prices struggled in Indian markets today as US lawmakers were unable to reach a breakthrough in stimulus talks. February gold futures on MCX were flat at Rs 49,250 per 10 grams. In the previous session, gold futures had slumped 1.8% or Rs 920 per 10 grams.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is IRCTC.

The government is planning to sell up to a 20% stake in Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) through an offer-for-sale that opens for subscription today.

The offer for sale in IRCTC opens today for non-retail investors and tomorrow for retail investors.

The government proposes to sell up to 24 million equity shares of IRCTC, representing up to 15% stake, with an option to additionally sell 8 million shares, representing 5% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital.

The floor price for the offer is Rs 1,367.

In all, the Government of India will sell 32 million shares, which is expected to garner Rs 43.7 billion for the exchequer starved of funds due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The OFS will help the government inch forward in meeting the Rs 2100 billion disinvestment target. Of this, Rs 1200 billion will come from disinvestment of public sector undertakings and another Rs 900 billion from stake sale in financial institutions.

The government currently holds an 87.4% stake in IRCTC. To meet the market regulator's public holding norm, the government has to lower its stake in the company to 75%.IRCTC, the only entity authorized by Indian Railways to provide catering services, online railway tickets, and packaged drinking water at railway stations and trains in India, was listed on the stock exchanges in October 2019. The company had raised Rs 6.4 billion through the IPO.

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

At the time of writing, IRCTC share price was trading down by 8.7% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the banking sector...

RBL Bank, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Announce Bancassurance Partnership

RBL Bank has partnered with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance to offer an array of life insurance products to its customers the companies said in a joint statement on December 9.

The alliance will enable over 8.7 million customers of RBL Bank to access and seamlessly purchase customer-centric protection and long-term savings products of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

Under the tie-up, RBL Bank will distribute ICICI Prudential Life's products through its network of 398 branches spread across 28 states, apart from its internet and mobile banking touch-points.

The bank customers will also be able to purchase the entire bouquet of ICICI Prudential Life's insurance plans on the protection and savings platform. The bank expects that this tie-up will help customers achieve their financial goals including wealth creation, retirement planning, and higher education of children. The tie-up will further deepen the multi-channel distribution footprint in the country for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

As there is a growing awareness among consumers about protection and the need to financially secure self and family following the (COVID-19) pandemic, the company believes its array of protection and long-term savings products will complement RBL Bank's offerings and enable its customers to develop a robust financial plan.

We will keep you updated on all the news from this space. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the banking sector, check out the monthly returns of major sectors for the month of March and October 2020 in the chart below.

In the chart above, you can see that banks were among the major losers with a cut of 34% in the month of March.

Cut to October they are the biggest gainers for the month with 11% returns!