Asian share markets are trading on a positive note today as investors anticipated the start of corporate earnings seasons.

The Nikkei is trading higher by 1.2% and the Hang Seng is trading up by 1.1%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices ended lower on Monday, with investors waiting for cues from the upcoming corporate earnings season and a key inflation report later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 50 points or 0.4%.

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

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 156 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 52 points.

ONGC is among the top gainers today. TCS, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened up by 0.4%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.9%.

Barring IT stocks and power stocks, all sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the metal sector and energy sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

The rupee is trading at 75.05 against the US$. The domestic currency plunged below 75 against the US dollar on Monday to an eight-month low.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 46,474 per 10 grams.

In news from the banking sector, bank credit grew 5.56% to Rs 109.51 lakh crore, while deposits rose 11.4% to Rs 151.13 lakh crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2021, data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.

In 2019-20 fiscal, advances had grown at 6.1% and deposits at 7.9%.

Though the interest rates of banks have reduced by 107 basis points from February 2020 to February 2021, the overall credit growth continued to moderate due to risk aversion and continued parking of excess liquidity with the RBI.

In other news from the banking sector, Axis Bank customers can now send money abroad in over 100 currencies through their mobile application, the private lender said on Monday.

Announcing the addition of the 'Send Money Abroad' feature to its Axis Mobile App, the lender said customers will be able to send money by following a simple two-step process given on the app.

To make the proposition richer, Axis Bank is also offering a preferential rate on digital channels.

With these features, the bank has made this an omnichannel experience for its customers, as there is complete integration between mobile banking and internet banking transactions, said the third-largest private sector lender.

Axis Bank's share price has opened the day up by 1.5%.

Moving on to news from the power sector, Tata Power is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Power Co has terminated its discussions with Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to raise capital for its renewable energy business through a proposed infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).

Tata Power's subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy (TPREL), had last year initiated talks to raise US$ 500 - US$ 750 million for its renewable energy platform. The move was expected to reduce Tata Power's net debt to Rs 250 billion from over Rs 360 billion.

The talks had led to an understanding, with Petronas agreeing to invest Rs 35-38 billion for about 30-35% stake in the InvIT at an enterprise value of US$ 2.5 billion.

Besides Petronas, other institutional and financial investors were also to come on board in the future to invest in the InvIT.

However, Tata Group decided to terminate the deal last week when both sides were in the final stages of discussions for negotiating a binding term sheet.

Tata Power is now looking for an initial public offering (IPO) of its renewable energy business. The company plans to create a separate entity that will hold the renewable projects along with rooftop solar projects and electric charging stations.

As per media reports, both sides were focused on finalizing the binding agreement. It was at that point it was relayed that the board was hesitant to proceed any further since it felt better valuations can be achieved through an IPO.

Tata Power's share price has opened the day up by 1.2%.

Speaking of the power sector, it is interesting to note that the power exchanged in India is about 4.5% of the overall power production, as can be seen in the chart below: