Asian share markets are trading on a positive note today as the US Federal Reserve signaled it was in no rush to taper stimulus.

However, the sentiment was fragile as investors waited to see if Beijing could stem the recent bloodletting in Chinese shares.

The Hang Seng is up 2.7% while the Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 1%. The Nikkei is up 0.6%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices slipped in a listless trade after the Federal Reserve gave no clue about when it might start reducing its purchases of government bonds.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4% while the Nasdaq gained 0.7%.

Back home, the Indian share markets have opened on a positive note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

Market participants will track shares of Tatva Chintan Pharma which will list on the bourses today.

It was the second most subscribed IPO of 2021 receiving 180 times bids. The grey market premium for the stock has surged by Rs 1,140-1,150 over the issue price of Rs 1,083 ahead of the listing.

Apart from that, they will also keep an eye on shares of Tech Mahindra, TVS Motors, Future Retail, Lauras Labs, and PVR as these companies will announce their quarterly numbers today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 196 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 49 points.

Titan is among the top gainers today. Maruti Suzuki, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index opened higher by 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

Barring healthcare, all sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the realty sector and consumer durables sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of Oracle Financial and ACC hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.30 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,578 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.4% at Rs 66,317 per kg.

Gold rose to its highest level in over a week after the Fed failed to give a timeline for its tapering plans and said it was "ways away" from considering raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices slipped but remained near US$75 per barrel as crude stockpiles in the US fell last week to their lowest since January 2020 and imports and production dropped.

In news from the energy sector, Mahanagar Gas is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Mahanagar Gas on Wednesday reported a 351% jump in its June quarter net profit as volumes recovered over a low base of last year.

It reported a net profit of Rs 2 bn in the April-June quarter as compared to Rs 452.5 m reported in the same period a year ago.

The company reported a turnover of Rs 6.2 bn, which was up 135%.

CNG sales volume recovered over last year when the country was under lockdown that impacted mobility but was lower than the preceding quarter.

The company's 141.1 m standard cubic meters CNG sales in the quarter under review was 223% higher than the previous year.

However, it was 22.5% lower if compared sequentially.

Piped natural gas supply to households was reported at 42.57m standard cubic meters, which was 9.1% higher year-on-year (YoY) and 3.5% sequentially.

Recently, the company increased the PNG price by Rs 0.55/standard cubic meter (SCM) and CNG by Rs 2.58 per kg.

Despite the hike in CNG prices, it is still 47% cheaper than diesel and 67% cheaper than petrol.

Mahanagar Gas's share price has opened the day up by 3.4%.

Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, as per a leading financial daily, early numbers and estimates for the April-June quarter indicate a steady recovery in FMCG players' business.

Despite a severe second wave, India's fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector seems to have emerged as one of the most resilient segments of the economy.

Because of the nationwide lockdowns, FMCG revenues had been severely affected in mid-2020. Sales and profitability of all leading FMCG manufacturers had slipped below 2019 levels in spite of consumers doing panic purchases and storing their pantries.

However, during the second wave, better penetration, supply chain efficiencies, targeted push for relevant products, and a massive digital push by FMCG manufacturers helped contain sales loss of sales.

In the April-June quarter, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) managed to exceed its revenue in the June 2019 quarter, backed by strong volume and sales growth.

It must be noted that last year too, its net sales had remained higher than that level, but it was due to the acquisition of GSK Consumer, which aided the top line.

For another FMCG major, ITC's net sales in the latest quarter were 12.5% higher than those in the same quarter of 2019.

This recovery came after a double-digit decline last year.

Top executives of FMCG leaders like HUL and Dabur said their learnings from 2020 helped them prepare better and minimize losses this time.

According to Dabur CEO Mohit Malhotra, the company had expanded rapidly into key consumer staples categories like edible oils in anticipation of a probable hit on its discretionary portfolio in 2021 and boosted its presence in its strong areas like the health supplement categories.

Meanwhile, according to HUL Chairman & MD Sanjiv Mehta, in spite of a more severe second wave, business activities were less impacted due to the government's approach of localized lockdowns.

How FMCG stocks perform in the coming months remains to be seen.

Speaking of HUL, here's an interesting data on the stock, between 2002 to 2010, HUL's stock price went nowhere...have a look at the chart below:

A Journey of No Returns in a So-Called Safe Stock

The stock was basically in an 8-year coma. The returns could barely even make up for the inflation.