Asian share markets dropped in early trade today as demand resurgence collided with a strained supply of basic materials, helping to fuel inflation worries.

The Hang Seng plunged 2.3% while the Nikkei is trading down by 2.9%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.3%.

In overnight trade, US stock markets fell from a record high as worries about accelerating inflation dragged on shares and hobbled the dollar that struggled at a 10-week low.

The S&P 500 index plunged 44 points or 1% to 4,188.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 35 points or 0.1% to 34,743, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dived 350 points or 2.6% to 13,402.

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

Market participants will track shares of Godrej Consumer, Neuland Labs, BASF India, Siemens, Aarti Industries, Linde India, and Granules India as these are among companies that will announce their March quarter results today.

Investors will also keep an eye on the results of the MSCI May 2021 semi-annual index review, which is set to be released later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 412 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 124 points.

Sun Pharma is among the top gainers today. Kotak Mahindra Bank, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 0.1%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.2%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the metal sector and finance sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Healthcare stocks, on the other hand, are trading in green.

Shares of Trident and Reliance Power hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at 73.50 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,970 per 10 grams.

In news from the insurance sector, the gross direct premium written by non-life insurance companies rose by over 22% in April this year to Rs 173.1 billion, as per regulatory data.

All the 33 insurance companies in the non-life segment had generated a gross written premium of Rs 141.7 billion in the same month of 2020.

Of these, the 25 players which are categorized as general insurers registered a nearly 20% increase in their collective gross premium at Rs 159.5 billion in April 2021, as against Rs 133.3 billion in the year-ago same period, data from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) showed.

The five standalone health insurance providers witnessed a more than 43% jump in gross premium at Rs 12.6 billion as against Rs 8.1 billion.

In other news, former Chairman on IRDAI Subhash Chandra Khuntia said that insurers need to focus not only on ensuring risks, but also on prevention of risks so that the policyholders derive benefits from not just settlement of claims, but also from prevention of loss.

Khuntia's term as IRDAI chairman ended on May 6. He held the office for three years, from May 2018 to May 2021.

In his final letter to the heads of the insurance companies, uploaded on the website of IRDAI, Khuntia said that despite challenges faced by the economy due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Indian insurance industry had been able to grow at a healthy pace of 9.2% in 2020-21 with the life insurance industry growing at 11.2%.

"Insurance inclusiveness is another area that all of us need to concentrate on so as to cater to the rural population, farmers, women, MSME, the poor, and the marginalized. We need to develop cost-effective microinsurance models for the same," Khuntia said.

In the letter, he also said that the Indian insurance sector is presently on the cusp of a transformation.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments in this space. Stay tuned.

Speaking of the insurance sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the investment assets of non-life insurers and life insurers over the past 10 years:

Investment Assets of Non-Life Insurers 11x That of Life Insurers

As per Tanushree Banerjee, Co-Head of Research at Equitymaster, the above chart is enough proof of how big an earning opportunity is a zero-cost float to the non-life insurers. Their investment assets under management is nearly 11 times that of life insurers.

Moving on to the news banking sector, Punjab National Bank (PNB) is among the top buzzing stocks today.

State-owned PNB on Monday launched a so-called qualified institutional placement (QIP) offer to raise as much as Rs 18 billion from institutional investors.

The bank said that its board has approved the issuance of shares to investors at a floor price of Rs 35.51 per share in the QIP offering.

As per reports, the base size of the share sale is Rs 12 billion with the option to upsize to Rs 18 billion, depending on the demand.

At the base size, the fundraise will result in a dilution of 3.4%, while at the upper end it will be a dilution of 5.1%.

Note that this is the second time the state-owned bank has hit the market to raise funds from institutional investors in the last six months, having raised Rs 37.9 billion in December through a QIP.

The funds raised will be used to grow the bank's loan book.

Investment banks ICICI Securities, Axis Capital, Edelweiss Financial Services, among others, are advising the lender on the share sale.

PNB share price has opened the day down by 5%.