After opening their day on a positive note, Indian share markets gave up some of their earlier gains and ended their session marginally higher. Gains were largely seen in the telecom sector and realty sector, while healthcare stocks and metal stocks ended the day lower.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 139 points (up 0.4%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 31 points (up 0.3%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 0.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.3%.

Asian stock markets finished on a negative note as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng was down 0.43% and the Nikkei was trading down by 0.47%. The Shanghai Composite stood lower by 0.28%. The rupee was trading at 65.21 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Mercator share price witnessed buying interest today after the company said it has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Best Oasis Ltd, Hong Kong to sell its vessel MV Vrinda for a total consideration of US$ 4.25 mn.

As per the filing, the proceeds of the sale would be used to repay debts of the company. The transaction is expected to be completed by April 6, 2018.

Ashoka Buildcon share price also witnessed buying interest today as the company was known as the lowest bidder for two road projects worth Rs 4.4 billion in Maharashtra. The stock of the company closed its session up by x% on the BSE.

This is the first policy under new Fed chief Jerome Powell. The Federal Reserve is expected to hike US interest rates and perhaps signal that as many as two more lie in store for the rest of the year.Market participants were also keeping a close watch on the ongoing Federal Reserve policy meeting to track the decision on an interest rate hike.

In its last meeting, the Fed said it expects "further gradual" rate increases. The target range for the federal funds rate currently is 1.25% to 1.50%.

Note that with the US economy chugging along for many months, the Fed is now gradually easing off the stimulus it provides to the economy by raising interest rates to more normal levels.

Federal Reserve Rate Hike in the Past 3 Years

How does a US interest rate hike affect Indian investors?

The instant effect is foreign money moving out of India's vaults. This means a slight correction in the share market in India, albeit temporarily.

While this might provide a good buying opportunity in long-term stocks, the main thing to look forward would be capex and earnings trends.

In the end, Indian investors are better off staying informed about the corporate earnings revival than Fed rate hikes.

In the news, the initial public offering (IPO) of Sandhar Technologies Ltd was subscribed around 50% so far on the last day of the share sale.

Sandhar Technologies is engaged in the business of designing and manufacturing a diverse range of automotive components, parts and systems which are focused on safety and security systems of vehicles.

The company manufactures its products from 31 manufacturing facilities across eight states in India, two manufacturing facilities in Spain, and one manufacturing facility in Mexico. This apart, it also has an overseas assembly and packaging centre located in Poland and a R&D centre located in Gurugram, Haryana.

The company's customer profile consists of 79 Indian and global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across various segments and global automotive component suppliers such as Autoliv, Bosch, and CTS.

And here's a note from Profit Hunter

Mahindra and Mahindra Financial (M&M Fin) is among the most active stock in the market today - up 3%. Let's have a look at its chart.

The stock bottomed out at 173 in February 2016 with the boarder market indices. Since then, it has traded in an uptrend and hit a new life-time high of 405 in October 2016. After the government rolled out the demonetisation plan, the market overall faced a decent correction. At that time, M&M financial plunged nearly 40% from its high in October 2016.

However, the stock resumed its up-move after touching the low of 244 in December 2016. It traded in a smooth uptrend tracking the rising trendline and touched a new life-time high of 512 in January 2018. It corrected for a while and found a strong support near 400 level from the rising trendline and horizontal support line (previous resistance now support).

Today, the stock is up 3% with healthy volumes.

So does this indicate that the stock is now ready to hit a fresh life-time high? Let's wait and watch...

M&M Finance Bounced From Support

(Click on image to enlarge)