Asian share markets held on to recent gains despite hawkish remarks from a senior official at the US Federal Reserve.

The Hang Seng is down 0.3% while the Nikkei is up 0.4%. The Shanghai Composite is trading on a flat note.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices fell from the record after the vice-chair of the Federal Reserve suggested rates could rise by 2023 and mixed economic data for July showed US companies adding far fewer jobs than expected.

Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

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

Adani Power, NCC, GAIL, Tata Chemicals, Cipla, Quess Corp, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Gujarat Gas are among the companies that will post their results today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 16 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 12 points.

Bharti Airtel and Tech Mahindra are among the top gainers today. IndusInd Bank, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 0.8%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 1.3%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the telecom sector and IT sector witnessing buying interest.

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

Shares of Sonata Software and Mphasis hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.20 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 47,800 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.5% at Rs 67,605 per kg.

Speaking of stock markets, in her latest video, Richa Agarwal talks about 6 stocks to ride the internet economy megatrend.

These are phenomenal times for Indian stock markets as new-age internet-based businesses are in line for listing.

In news from the telecom sector, Vodafone Idea is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Shares of Vodafone Idea have been under pressure recently, slipping as much as 26% in two days after reports suggested that Vodafone Group Plc has ruled out any further equity infusion in its debt-ridden telecom joint venture in India.

The stock came under pressure started after Kumar Mangalam Birla told the government that he is willing to give up a promoter stake in the company.

Birla has expressed willingness to offer his group's 27% stake in Vi to any government or domestic financial entity in order to keep the stressed telecom company alive.

Yesterday, the company's board accepted Birla's request to step down, as he distanced himself from the beleaguered telecom operator.

Birla will be replaced by Aditya Birla Group and telecom industry veteran Himanshu Kapania, Vodafone Idea said in a stock exchange filing.

Aditya Birla Group chief financial officer Sushil Agarwal has also been named to the company's board as an additional director.

On the company's plans to support Vi, which is struggling to raise fresh capital, the UK-based telecom major's chief executive officer Nick Read, speaking during an investor conference call, said,

• We, as a group, try to provide them as much practical support as we can, but I want to make it very clear, we are not putting any additional equity into India.

His comments came on the day the Supreme Court dismissed Vi's application for recomputation of adjusted gross revenue dues.

Vodafone Idea has been struggling to raise funds to meet staggering amounts of regulatory dues that the company owes the government on account of license and spectrum fees.

Over the past year, it has seen a sharp erosion in its customer base, ceding market share to rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio while reporting losses for the past many quarters.

It needs to arrange Rs 225 bn between December and April to repay a mix of regular debt to lenders, AGR (adjusted gross revenue), and spectrum dues.

Speaking of Vodafone's Idea, in the past month, shares of the company have lost 34%.

In the past five years, its stock price has fallen more than 88%.

It remains to be seen how Vodafone Idea manages to stay afloat.

Moving on to news from the IPO space...

Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, part of the Nirma Group, on Wednesday said it has fixed a price band of Rs 560-570 a share for its Rs 50 bn initial public offerings (IPO).

The three-day initial share sale will open for public subscription on 9 August and conclude on 11 August 11.

The IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 15 bn and an offer for sale (OFS) of Rs 35 bn by promoter Niyogi Enterprise.

Proceeds of the fresh issue will be used for the repayment of certain loans availed to the company and for general corporate purposes.

Half of the issue size has been reserved for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs), 35% for retail investors, and the remaining 15% for non-institutional investors.

Investors can bid for a minimum of 26 equity shares and in multiples of 26 equity shares thereafter.

Nuvoco Vistas is a cement manufacturer with a consolidated capacity of 22.32 MMTPA. It has eleven cement plants comprising five integrated units, five grinding units, and one blending unit.

Nuvoco Vistas, formerly Lafarge India Limited, February 2020 announced that it will acquire the 8.3 m tonnes per annum cement business of Emami for an enterprise value of Rs 55 bn. The deal was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in May 2020.

How this IPO sails through remains to be seen.