Asian share markets are steady today after reassuring comments on inflation and monetary policy from Federal Reserve officials bolstered investor sentiment.

The Hang Seng is trading higher by 1.7% and the Shanghai Composite is up 0.5%.

The Nikkei is trading higher by 0.1%. The Nikkei saw its biggest rise in 2021 yesterday.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices rebounded overnight, led by IT stocks, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell vowed not to raise rates too quickly.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.8%.

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

Market participants will track shares of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Mcleod Russel India, Allcargo Logistics, and HCC as these companies are scheduled to release their quarterly earnings today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 46 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 8 points.

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

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index had opened higher by 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the metal sector and consumer durables sector witnessing buying interest.

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

Shares of CRISIL and Lux Industries hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.30 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 47,114 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.5% at Rs 67,848 per kg.

Bullion rose today after Jerome Powell promised not to raise interest rates too quickly based only on the fear of coming inflation.

In news from the banking sector, IDBI Bank is among the top buzzing stocks today.

The department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM) and the finance ministry on Tuesday floated a request for proposal (RFP), inviting transaction and legal advisers for strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank.

Once these advisers are appointed, the department would promptly invite expressions of interest (EoIs) for purchase of the stakes on offer and this would likely be by September.

As per the plan, the government will exit the bank by divesting its entire 45.48% stake worth about Rs 190 bn at the current market prices.

Its promoter, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) will offer to sell a portion of its 49.24% stake with an intent to relinquish management control.

After a failed attempt a few years ago, the government diluted its stake in IDBI Bank in January 2019 in favor of LIC, which then became the promoter in the bank with a 51% stake.

Under a special dispensation, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority allowed LIC to hold 51%, against the norm of 15%. The insurer will, however, have to pare its stake to 15% in due course.

Of the Rs 1.75-lakh-crore disinvestment target for the financial year 2021-22, the government has budgeted Rs 1 lakh crore from disinvestment of government stake in PSUs such as LIC and IDBI Bank.

Note that IDBI Bank swung back to profit this year after a gap of five years, with a net profit of Rs 13.6 bn.

Following improvement in asset quality, the bank also exited the prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. It can resume corporate lending which was stopped after it came under PCA.

IDBI Bank's share price has opened the day up by 4%.

Moving on to news from the FMCG sector, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has added 30% more capacity in its supply chain, while adding alternate sources in order to meet the challenges in case of the third wave of COVID-19, its Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta said on Tuesday.

Addressing the company's 88th annual general meeting (AGM) virtually, Mehta expressed optimism that the rural markets will continue to be strong despite the second wave of the pandemic impacting the hinterlands.

With commodity prices increasing, the company is keeping a close eye on the situation and going for calibrated price hikes so as to avoid impacting consumers in a big way.

HUL's supply chain is undergoing a massive transformation across the verticals and the company is digitizing upstream sourcing network, Mehta said.

On rural demand, which has grown faster than urban trade after the first wave of the pandemic, Mehta said he expects it to be resilient, but added it will take a few more weeks for a proper assessment.

Note that shares of HUL have gained 6% so far this month on expectations of recovery and improving demand trends.

HUL's share price has opened the day up by 1%.

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.

However, over the 2010 to 2020 period, HUL delivered a whopping return of 30% CAGR!

Back in November 2020, Rahul Shah had recorded a video on why you should skip stocks like Nestle and HUL.