Asian share markets inched higher today following a much-needed bounce on Wall Street, but nerves are stretched ahead of a near-certain rate hike in Europe and another round of corporate earnings reports.

The Nikkei rose by 0.5% while the Hang Seng gained 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.6%.

Wall Street indices bounced back with a broad rally on Friday, as investor confidence was boosted by upbeat earnings, heartening economic data, and waning fears of a larger-than-expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones was up by 2.2% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was higher by 1.8%.

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a positive note, tracking firm global cues.

Benchmark indices opened on a positive note tracking the trend on SGX Nifty as markets across the globe showed an uptrend.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 374 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 121 points.

Infosys and L&T are among the top gainers today.

HDFC Bank and M&M are among the top losers today.

IndusInd Bank's share price, after falling for the past couple of days, is trading in the green today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up by 1% while the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 1.2%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note. Stocks in the IT and metal sector witnessed most of the buying.

Shares of Eicher Motors and Bharat Electronics hit their 52-week highs today.

In the commodity markets, gold prices rise. Today, prices are up by Rs 268, trading at Rs 50,367 per 10 grams.

Note that gold prices had fallen and have taken quite a knock in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher at Rs 55,955 per kg. Silver price to has fallen a lot in recent days.

In volatile markets, avoiding losses is more important than making profits. Keeping your capital intact in the face of unpredictable markets is an achievement.

Especially with the possibility of recession making sure that you do not invest in stocks that lose money is very important. The don'ts have become more important than the do.

In news from the banking sector, HDFC Bank posted its Q1 results over the weekend.

HDFC Bank, the country's largest private lender, on Saturday, reported a 19% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profit for the April-June quarter at Rs 91.9 bn after providing Rs 29.8 bn for taxation.

HDFC Bank had posted a net profit of Rs 77.2 bn in the year-ago period.

Net interest income (NII) for the June quarter grew by 14.5% to Rs 194.8 bn from Rs 170.1 bn for the same quarter last year. It was driven by advances growth of 22.5%, deposits growth of 19.2%, and total balance sheet growth of 20.3%.

The private lender's net revenue (excluding trading and Market to Market losses) grew by 19.8% to Rs 271.8 bn for the June quarter from Rs 226.9 bn for the same quarter last year.

Gross non-performing assets (NPA) were at 1.3% of gross advances as on 30 June this year (1.1% excluding NPAs in the seasonal agricultural segment) as against 1.47% as on 30 June last year, (1.3% excluding NPAs in the seasonal agricultural segment). Net NPA was at 0.4% of net advances as on 30 June 2022.

Provisions and contingencies for the Q1 of fiscal 2023 were Rs 31.9 bn (which were specific loan loss provisions) as against total provisions of Rs 48,3 bn for Q1 of fiscal 2023.

Hopefully, these results will boost the bank's falling share price. Since the news of the HDFC and HDFC Bank merger came out, HDFC Bank's share price is falling.

Further, in news from the metal sector, Tata Steel has planned huge capex plans.

Tata Steel has planned capital expenditure (capex) of Rs 120 bn on its India and Europe operations during the current financial year.

The domestic steel major plans to invest Rs 85 bn in India and Rs 35 bn on the company's operations in Europe

In India, the focus will be on the Kalinganagar project expansion and mining activity, and in Europe, it will be focused on sustenance, product mix enrichment, and environment-related capex

The company is in process of expanding the capacity of its plant in Kalinganagar, Odisha to 8 metric tonnes (MT) from 3 MT.

In addition to this, Tata Steel will be spending about Rs 120 bn on inorganic growth in India in the NINL acquisition.

Moving on to news from the telecom sector Vodafone Idea has raised funds.

Debt-ridden telecom operator, Vodafone Idea's shareholders have approved equity allocation worth Rs 4.4 bn to its promoter entity, the Vodafone Group.

Vodafone Group at present holds a 58.5% stake in the company and Aditya Birla Group 16.5%.

The company had raised Rs 33.7 bn from Vodafone Group and Rs 11.3 bn from Aditya Birla Group in March.

VIL has been trying to raise funds in the range of Rs 200-250 bn from external sources for the last two years but has failed to attract any investors.

The government announced a reform package in September last year which has largely benefited Vodafone Idea.

The government has allowed VIL to convert around Rs 161 bn interest dues into about 33% stake in the company to provide liquidity for investment in the business.

Still, analysts have said high leverage and weak balance sheet have impaired the company's ability to invest in the network.

As of 31 March 2022, the group's total debt (including interest accrued but not due) was Rs 1978.8 bn. The company has around Rs 81.6 bn of payments due over the next 12 months, as per analysts.

Vodafone Idea's share price is currently trading on a flat note.

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