After opening the day in red, share markets in India witnessed negative trading activity throughout the day and ended the day on a weak note. Losses were seen across most sectors with stocks in the banking sector and stocks in the auto sector, leading the losses.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood lower by 407 points (down 1.2%) and the NSE Nifty closed down by 122 points (down 1.2%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day flat, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.2%.

Asian stock markets finished in red. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 3.1% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 4.5%. The Nikkei 225 was down by 2.3%. Meanwhile, European markets were trading on a negtive note. The FTSE 100 was down by 0.2%, The DAX, was down by 0.4% while the CAC 40 was down by 0.4%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 64.40 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 64.38 at the time of writing.

In news from stocks in the automobile sector. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) share price ended the day on a negative note after announcing the sale of its stake in a joint venture.

M&M announced that it sold 22% stake in Joint Venture (JV) Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel Private Limited (MSSSPL) to JV partner Sanyo Special Steel Company Limited (Sanyo) for Rs 1.4 billion.

As per its FY17 Annual Report, M&M owns 51% stake in MSSSPL, while Sanyo, Japan and Mitsui and Company Limited, Japan, own 29% and 20% respectively. MSSSPL is a manufacturer of Carbon, Alloy & Tool Die Steels.M&M will sell 22% stake in MSSSPL, reducing its stake from 51% earlier to 29%, post which MSSSPL will cease to be a subsidiary of M&M. It will sell 26,36,401 shares in MSSSPL to Sanyo for Rs 555 per share for an overall consideration of Rs1.4 billion.

The transaction is expected to be completed by March 31, 2018. Following the sale, the shareholding of Sanyo in MSSSPL will increase from 29% to 51%.