Asian share markets are mixed today as traders await gauges of manufacturing activity and key American jobs data later in the week to help assess the economic outlook.

The Nikkei is trading lower by 0.4% while the Hang Seng is trading up by 0.6%. The Shanghai Composite is down 0.1%.

The US financial markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day.

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

Market participants will track ITC share price and Gujarat Gas share price as these companies are scheduled to announce their March quarter results today.

Besides, the market participants would also keep a close watch on auto sales figures and manufacturing PMI data to be released later today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 198 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 59 points.

Bajaj Auto is among the top gainers today. Tata Steel, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened up by 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the automobile sector and FMCG sector witnessing buying interest.

Metal stocks, on the other hand, are trading in the red.

Shares of PNB Housing Finance and Reliance Capital hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 72.50 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.5% at Rs 49,082 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.9% at Rs 72,570 per kg.

Gold and silver prices edged higher today in Indian markets, supported by positive global cues.

In international markets, gold edged higher to a near five-month high of US$1,914.26 earlier in today's session, supported by a weaker US dollar and inflation concerns.

In news from the IPO space, Paytm will look to raise up to US$1.5 bn as part of the primary share sale, leading up to its initial public offering (IPO), which is planned for November.

According to sources, though the details of the listing are being worked out, Paytm may take the qualified institutional buyer (QIB) route to list and issue fresh equity to raise funds.

The company will evaluate a secondary share sale, but none of its large investors have shown an interest in exiting so far.

Media reports suggested one of its largest investors, SoftBank, was evaluating a partial stake sale worth around US$1.5 bn as part of diluting its stake in the proposed IPO.

Paytm is eyeing to raise Rs 220 bn through this IPO.

The IPO plan received in principle approval from Paytm's board last week on Friday.

If successful, this could be the biggest IPO by an Indian company, breaking Coal India's long-lasting record of Rs 154.8 bn IPO.

How Paytm's IPO sails through remains to be seen.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, public sector banks are among the top buzzing stocks today.

As per an article in The Economic Times, PSU banks are expected to launch qualified institutional placement (QIP) offerings worth Rs 85-90 bn in the next quarter amid a rebound in equity markets.

The PSU banks that are lining up such offerings include Indian Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and Canara Bank.

All three are expected to launch their offerings between July and September.

In other news, PSU banks have announced to provide unsecured loans of up to Rs 5 lakh to individuals to meet their and family members' Covid-19 treatment cost.

This comes in the wake of the ongoing second wave of the pandemic.

This forms part of three new loan products announced by them on Sunday to provide fresh lending support to vaccine manufacturers, hospitals/dispensaries, pathology labs, manufacturers and suppliers of oxygen, ventilators, importers of vaccines & Covid related drugs logistics firms, and individuals suffering from the disease.

As per these announcements made at a joint press conference by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and State Bank of India (SBI), individuals including salaried, non-salaried, and pensioners can avail of unsecured personal loans from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakh to meet Covid-19 treatment.

The repayment tenure is 5 years and SBI would charge interest of 8.5% per annum. Other banks are free to decide their interest rate.

Note that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 May 2020, had announced several measures such as a term liquidity facility of Rs 500 bn Covid loan book to ease access to emergency health services, Resolution Framework 2.0 for Covid related stressed assets of individuals, small businesses and MSMEs, and re-assessment of working capital limits.

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

Speaking of public sector undertakings (PSU), have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of the BSE PSU index compared to BSE Sensex over the past few years.

As can be seen from the chart above, over the last decade, Rs 100 invested in the BSE-PSU index would have eroded to Rs 80, compared to almost 3x gains for the Sensex.