After trading on a volatile note throughout the day, share markets in India witnessed selling pressure during the closing hours and ended the day in the red. All sectoral indices traded in red, with stocks in the auto sector and realty sector leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 383 points (down 1.1%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 132 points (down 1.2%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 2.2%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day down by 2.1%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 73.57 against the US$.

Asian stock markets finished on a positive note. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was up by 0.1% and the Shanghai Composite was up by 0.6%. The Nikkei 225 was up by 1.3%. Meanwhile, European markets were trading on a mixed note. The FTSE 100 was trading flat. The DAX was down by 0.2%, while the CAC 40 was down by 0.6%

IIFL Holdings share price witnessed selling pressure today as the company yesterday said that its subsidiary IIFL Wealth Management acquired Wealth Advisors India, a Chennai-based wealth management firm for a total consideration of Rs 2.35 billion.

From the IT sector, Infosys share price was in focus today as the company posted a surprise 3.2% dollar revenue growth in the September quarter (Q2FY19) as compared to the preceding three months.

This was the fastest sequential growth by India's second-largest information technology (IT) services company in more than a year.

In constant currency terms, Infosys's Q2 revenue rose 4.2% from the preceding three months.

Currency fluctuations, however, took some sheen off the company's growth as dollar revenue increased at a slower pace to US$2.92 billion in the quarter ended 30 September.

Net profit rose 0.5% to US$ 581 million in the September quarter from US$ 578 million in the preceding quarter. Operating margin was 23.7%, same as in the June quarter.

The above better-than-expected performance was largely helped by a 4.7% sequential growth from clients in the financial services space, which contributed to 32.2% of revenue.

Also, a 4.9% increase in business from retail clients, accounting for about 17% of revenue, also helped the company's performance.

In the news from commodity space, crude oil was witnessing buying interest today as industry data showed a surprise decline in US crude inventories.

As per the data from American Petroleum Institute (API), US crude inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels last week, compared with analyst expectations for a build of 2.2 million barrels.

US gasoline stocks dropped by a larger-than-expected 3.4 million barrels, while distillate fuel stockpiles declined by a smaller-than-expected 246,000 barrels.

Also, in another news around crude oil... As per a leading financial daily, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has urged its members not to mention oil prices when discussing policy in a break from the past, as the oil-producing group seeks to avoid the risk of US legal action for manipulating the market.

The decision underlines how Trump's aggressive stance on the oil market is unsettling OPEC and testing ties between allies Riyadh and Washington.

Apart from the above, OPEC officials are also advised to explore diplomatic lobbying channels to try and prevent the NOPEC bill from becoming law.

Note that Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of the OPEC and has blamed it for high oil prices. He has been urging it to increase output to relieve rising prices for the market which is hovering around four-year highs.

This has made OPEC and its unofficial leader, Saudi Arabia, nervous about what it might mean for NOPEC, or No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act.

It would be interesting to see how this decision pans out. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Also, speaking of crude oil, almost every time a rise or fall in the stock markets is invariably linked to crude oil prices.

Logically, it seems right too. The rise in crude oil increases input costs for dependent firms. It also means rising inflation. Rising inflation means rising interest rates.

It also puts pressure on the government to cut excise duty, thereby impacting its revenues. We have already seen that happening. After all, there is an election year coming up.

But has it really affected the stock markets?

Are Stock Market Returns Really Linked to Crude Oil Prices?