Asian share markets are trading on a mixed note today amid concerns of rising Covid cases.
Meanwhile, holidays in Tokyo and Singapore made for thin trading conditions.
The Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite are trading up by 0.9% and 1%, respectively.
In US stock markets, Wall Street indices ended at an all-time high on Friday after the monthly US jobs report came in better than expected, as the economy continues to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and investors shake off delta variant concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 272 points or 0.8%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite advanced 115 points or 0.8%.
For the week, the Dow gained 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.1%.
Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a positive note.
Market participants will track shares of Shree Cement, AstraZeneca Pharma India, Clean Science, and Tech, Indian Hotels, and MRF as these companies are slated to post their earnings today.
Meanwhile, shares of Rolex Rings are going to list today on the bourses.
The BSE Sensex is trading up by 182 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 55 points.
Tech Mahindra and M&M are among the top gainers today. Reliance, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.
The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index had opened higher by 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the IT sector and FMCG sector witnessing buying interest.
Power stocks, on the other hand, are trading in the red.
Shares of Tata Investment and Tejas Networks hit their 52-week highs today.
The rupee is trading at 74.34 against the US$.
Gold prices are trading down by 2% at Rs 46,660 per 10 grams.
Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 3% at Rs 64,980 per kg.
Gold skidded to a more than four-month low today as robust US jobs data stoked fears that the Federal Reserve would raise rates quicker than expected, increasing the opportunity cost of holding non-interest-bearing bullion.
In news, from the telecom sector, Vodafone Idea (Vi) is among the top buzzing stocks today.
Lenders of Vodafone Idea, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), have said converting the debt of cash-strapped Vi to equity is one option to get out of the precarious position banks are in.
Banks are concerned about their exposure to the telecom operator. SBI has an exposure of about Rs 111 bn in the telco.
At a meeting with the telecom department on Friday to discuss the stress in the sector, the lenders, however, said that since Vodafone Idea had not defaulted on its debts so far, they cannot take any action yet.
They instead pushed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to take steps to save the carrier, failing which the government would stand to lose a lot more than banks.
The banks, which also have high exposure to bankrupt Reliance Communications, urged DoT not to cancel its telecom license, saying such a move would kill its entire resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The Aditya Birla group holds 27.66% in Vodafone Idea, while the co-parent Vodafone Group owns 44.39%.
As of March-end, Vodafone Idea owed Rs 1.57 lakh crore to the government, including Rs 962.7 bn towards spectrum payments and the rest towards its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability.
In comparison, banks have a total exposure of a little over Rs 350 bn.
Vodafone Idea has said its operations are not generating adequate cash and had sought a year more till fiscal 2023 to pay the over Rs 82 bn for spectrum that is falling due in April next year.
Vodafone's share price has opened the day up by 5%.
Moving on to news from the banking sector, Bank of Baroda on Saturday posted a standalone net profit of Rs 12.1 bn as it swung back to profit for the quarter ended June 2021.
The lender had posted a net loss of Rs 8.6 bn in the year-ago period.
The lender's net interest income (NII) - the difference between interest earned and interest expended, rose 16% to Rs 78.9 bn as against Rs 68.2 bn in the year-ago period.
The lender's asset quality improved marginally in the June quarter as gross non-performing assets (GNPA) came at 8.86% as against 8.87% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
The quarterly net NPA stands at 3.03% against 3.09% in March 2021.
Total provisions and contingencies for the quarter eased to Rs 41.1 bn from Rs 56.3 bn a year ago.
As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular, the bank has opted to provide the liability for frauds over a period of four quarters.
Accordingly, the carry-forward provision as of June 2021 is Rs 3.5 bn which is to be amortized in the subsequent quarters by the bank.
Bank of Baroda's share price has opened the day up by 1.2%.
Speaking of public sector undertakings (PSU), please have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of the BSE PSU index compared to BSE Sensex over the past few years.
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