Indian share markets witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day today and ended higher.

Benchmark indices extended gains for the second consecutive day, tracking positive cues from global peers, even as India reported over 4 lakh Covid-19 cases.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 272 points (up 0.6%).

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty closed higher by 107 points (up 0.7%).

Hindalco and Hero MotoCorp were among the top gainers today.

Power Grid Corp and UPL, on the other hand, were among the top losers today.

The SGX Nifty was trading at 14,785, up by 92 points, at the time of writing.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small-Cap index ended up by 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively.

Sectoral indices ended on a positive note with stocks in the IT sector and auto sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Mphasis and Deepak Nitrite hit their respective 52-week highs today.

IDBI Bank and Tata Steel were among the top buzzing stocks today.

Asian stock markets ended on a positive note today.

The Hang Seng ended the day up by 0.8%, while the Shanghai Composite ended the day down by 0.2%. The Nikkei ended up by 1.8% in today's session.

US stock futures are trading on a flat note today with the Dow Jones Futures trading up by 31 points.

The rupee is trading at 73.76 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.3% at Rs 47,119 per 10 grams.

Speaking of stock markets, in his latest video for Fast Profits Daily, Brijesh Bhatia explains how you can make trading profits in the market when the Nifty is stuck in a range.

Nifty has been rangebound ever since the month of February.

As per Brijesh, the recent downtrend may have been stooped by the bulls, but they don't seem to be strong enough to take the markets to new highs...at least in the short term.

So, what should you do? How do you trade the market when the index is stuck in a range? Brijesh answers these questions in the video below.

Tune in here to find out more:

Maruti Suzuki's Production Shrinks in the Month of April

In news from the auto sector, Maruti Suzuki was among the top buzzing stocks today.

India's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki has reported that its production has shrunk by at least 7% last month, compared to March 2021, after it manufactured 2 lakh units.

It is also far less than what Maruti Suzuki produced a year ago when the overall figures stood at 1.7 lakh units.

The company's production was going on in full swing before it decided to halt work to divert oxygen to hospitals last week.

According to a statement issued by the carmaker, Maruti Suzuki produced 29,056 units of mini cars, which include small hatchbacks like Alto and S-Presso, in April as against 28,519 units in March.

It also built 83,432 units of compact cars like WagonR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Baleno, and Dzire, during the same period.

However, its production has declined from 95,186 units in March 2021.

Production of utility vehicles too were down from March 2021 at 31,059 units. The automaker produces utility vehicles like Gypsy, Ertiga, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, and XL6.

It also produced 2,390 units of its light commercial vehicle Super Carry in April, down from 2,397 units in March 2021.

RC Bhargava, Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, recently said in an interview that the carmaker is thinking of reducing production capacity amid fears that demand for its cars may go down due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions across the country.

He had said that the problem is on the "sales side because in several states there is a partial lockdown and there's a curfew in some states and the dealers who sell the cars are having to close down."

In April, Maruti Suzuki reported a total sale of 2 lakh units. Out of all the units sold for last month, Maruti Suzuki domestic sales figures stood at 1.4 lakh units. In comparison to the March 2021 sales, the figures were down by 4.4% as it sold 1.8 lakh units in the previous month.

Maruti Suzuki share price ended the day up by 1.1% on the BSE.

Ceat Posts Three-Fold Jump in Q4 Net Profit

Moving on, tyre maker Ceat reported a nearly three-fold increase in standalone net profit to Rs 1.4 billion in the March quarter of FY21.

The company had posted a standalone net profit of Rs 501.2 million in Q4FY20.

Revenue from operations rose by 46% to Rs 22.8 billion during the fourth quarter, compared to Rs 15.6 billion in the March quarter of FY 2019-20.

For the full year 2020-21, the company's standalone net profit stood at Rs 4.1 billion as compared to a profit of Rs 2.2 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The company's revenue from operations stood at Rs 75.7 billion during FY21 as against Rs 67.5 billion in FY20.

'It has been a very satisfactory year with record sales and profitability especially in a year that has been marked by uncertainty due to Covid-19. We gained market share in a passenger car (PCR) and truck and bus (TBR) radial segments,' said Anant Goenka, Managing Director, Ceat.

Meanwhile, the board of directors approved an investment of Rs 12 billion to expand capabilities in the truck and bus radial (TBR) segment.

The board has also recommended a dividend payment of 180% on its face value.

Ceat produces over 15 million tyres a year and offers a wide range for heavy-duty trucks and buses, light commercial vehicles, earthmovers, forklifts, tractors, trailers, cars, motorcycles, and scooters as well as auto-rickshaws.

Ceat share price ended the day down by 2.8% on the BSE.

Speaking of the current stock market scenario, note that smallcaps stocks have been on a roll recently.

The BSE smallcap index had crashed to a multi-year low of 8.6k back in March 2020. Who would have thought that in less than a year, the index will come roaring back and go up a massive 133%?

Despite the Covid-related headwinds, Indian stock markets registered their best financial year performance in a decade in FY21. While the Sensex and Nifty surged 68% and 71% respectively, gains in mid-and small-caps have been sharper with both the indices rallying 91% and 115%, respectively.

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 130% since the March 2020 lows, Richa believes smallcap 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.r
  
  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.