Asian stock markets are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.1% while the Hang Seng is up 0.2%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 0.7%.

Back home, India share markets have opened the day on a positive note. Sectoral indices have opened the day in green with metal stocks and healthcare stocks witnessing maximum buying interest.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 216 points while the NSE Nifty is trading up by 60 points. The BSE Mid Cap index opened the day up by 0.4% while BSE Small Cap index opened up by 0.3%.

The rupee is currently trading at Rs 71.76 against the US$.

In the news from the aviation space, Jet Airways is in focus today as the company's former CEO, Nikos Kardassis has parted ways with the cash-strapped airline.

Nikos Kardassis was roped-in to revive the fortunes of the full-service carrier following its dismal financial performance since January this year.

Amid persisting financial turbulence, the airline has been implementing a turnaround plan, which includes both cost-saving and revenue enhancement.

With three back-to-back quarterly losses and a net debt of Rs 80.5 billion as on September 30, the airline is also working on ways to raise funds and reduce costs.

In another development, country's largest lender SBI has ordered for a "forensic" audit of Jet Airways books between April 2014 and March 2018 for alleged financial irregularities.

At the same time, credit rating agency ICRA has downgraded Jet Airways' long-term rating to "C" from "B" on account of delays in the implementation of the proposed fund-raising initiatives and consequently aggravating further its liquidity.

Earlier this month, Etihad Airways offered to finance as much as US$ 200 million to Jet Airways to keep the airline operational.

As per the news, the airline had sought US$ 350 million in soft loans from its investment partner Etihad Airways, as it continues to hold discussions with the latter to offload additional stake in the carrier.

Jet Airways has opened the day down by 3%.

Moving on to the news from the commodity space, oil prices climbed today after US drilling activity fell to its lowest level in about two months but increasing concerns about weaker growth in major economies kept a lid on gains.

Prices remained weak during the week pressured by weakness in global stock markets and doubt that planned supply cuts led by producer club OPEC will be enough to rein in oversupply.

OPEC and some non-OPEC producers, including heavyweight Russia, announced they would cut oil supply by 1.2 million bpd, with an 800,000-bpd reduction planned by OPEC-members and 400,000 bpd by countries not affiliated with the group.

Adding pressure to the market was Russia's slower-than-expected planned cuts in production as part of an OPEC-led deal. Russia said it planned to cut oil output by just 50,000-60,000 bpd in January as it gradually builds to an agreed cut of 2,20,000 bpd.

Speaking of crude oil, oil prices have been pulled down sharply since October by signs of an economic slowdown. Meanwhile, the two world's biggest economies, the United States and China, are locked in a trade war which is threatening to slow global growth and battering investor sentiment.

Also, it's interesting to note that whenever oil prices have surpassed US$ 100/barrel, they didn't stay there for very long. In technical term, it is a sort of 'resistance level'.

Resistance Kicks in Once Crude Touches US$ 100/barrel

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