Indian share markets witnessed positive trading activity throughout the day today and ended on a strong note.

Benchmark indices extended gains and ended at a day's high led by strong gains in metal and pharma stocks. The BSE metal index surged over 5%.

Investors welcomed Joe Biden's economy-boosting infrastructure proposals while a healthy US private jobs report also boosted optimism.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 521 points (up 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 177 points (up 1.2%).

IndusInd Bank and JSW Steel were among the top gainers today.

HUL and Nestle, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,920, up by 170 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index ended up by 1.7% and 2.1%, respectively.

On the sectoral front, gains were largely seen in the metal sector, automobile sector, and banking sector.

Shares of Tata Steel and Adani Gas hit their respective 52-week highs today.

Market participants were tracking SBI share price as customers of India's biggest bank are reportedly facing issues while trying to push through online transactions.

Asian share markets ended higher today, tracking positive global cues.

Both, the Shanghai Composite and the Nikkei ended up by 0.7%. The Hang Seng zoomed 2%.

European stock markets kicked off the new quarter with gains as optimism around a new US government spending plan and strong factory activity data out of the eurozone eclipsed concerns about another lockdown in France.

US stock futures are trading higher today indicating a positive opening for Wall Street indices with Dow Futures trading up by 27 points (up 0.1%).

The rupee is trading at 73.40 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 44,698 per 10 grams.

In news from the automobile sector, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki were among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Motors today reported a 505% growth in total domestic sales at 66,609 units in March 2021 as compared to 11,012 units in the same month last year due to mandatory business closures to control the spread of coronavirus outbreak.

The company's total passenger vehicle sales grew to 29,654 units last month, compared with 5,676 units in March 2020, the company said in a statement.

The company's PV business posted its highest-ever sales in 9-years, in Q4FY21.

In FY21 the company's PV sales registered its highest-ever annual sales in 8 years at 222,025 units, while posting a growth of 69% versus FY20.

In the electric vehicle (EV) segment, the company sold 4,219 units in FY21, a threefold increase over FY20. The company also registered its highest-ever monthly and quarterly sales of 705 EVs and 1,711 EVs in Q4FY21.

Meanwhile, the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki reported total sales of 1,67,014 units in March. It had sold 83,792 units in March last year.

Its domestic sales stood at 1,49,518 units last month. The auto major had reported sales of 76,976 units in March 2020.

For FY21, Maruti Suzuki reported total sales of 14,57,861 units, down 6.7% from 15,63,297 units in FY20.

Shares of Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki ended the day up by 1.9% and 0.9%, respectively.

Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, Tata Consumer Products today announced exit from its two US-based joint ventures by selling its stake to the JV partner Harris Tea Company LLC.

The company's step-down subsidiaries in the USA have decided to divest their entire membership interest in Empirical Group LLC and Southern Tea LLC to the JV partner Harris Tea Company LLC, USA (Harris Tea), the company informed in a regulatory filing.

The exits from both the JVs are in line with Tata Consumer's strategy to focus on the core branded business, it added.

However, the company did not share the amount, which it will receive from the divestment in both JVs.

Empirical is engaged in the sale of tea and coffee for food services and contract customers and Southern Tea is a manufacturing entity managed by Harris Tea Company LLC.

Note that shares of Tata Consumer Products have been in the focus of late after the stock got admitted to the NSE Nifty index on March 31 as part of the index rejig.

On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the stock has outperformed both the NSE Nifty and Nifty FMCG index in terms of returns. The Tata group stock has gained 8% as against Nifty's 5% and 2% up move in the Nifty FMCG index.

Formerly known as Tata Global Beverages, Tata Consumer is currently undergoing a transformation to become a multi-category FMCG company from a food and beverage (F&B) company.

Tata Consumer Product's share price ended the day up by 1.7%.

Speaking of the FMCG sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE Sensex and BSE FMCG index since 2009:

While Sensex has offered 393% returns since 2009, the BSE FMCG index has gone up a staggering 532% returns over the same period.

Richa Agarwal, the lead Smallcap Analyst at Equitymaster, believes this outperformance could continue for many years.

With a rising population and standards of living, Indian's consumption demand for FMCG products will skyrocket over the coming years.

We are keeping a close eye on FMCG stocks and will keep you updated on all the news from this space.