Asian share markets opened lower today with fears growing among investors that there will be no respite from Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at tamping down inflation.

The Nikkei fell by 1.7% while the Hang Seng was down by 1.3%. The Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 0.2%.

US stocks ended the month with their fourth straight daily decline on Wednesday, cementing the weakest August performance in seven years as worries about aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve persisted.

The Dow Jones fell by 0.9% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended lower by 0.5%.

Back home, Indian share markets are trading on a negative note.

Benchmark indices opened deep in the red today following the trend on SGX Nifty. But as the session progressed, some of the losses were erased.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading lower by 326 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 99 points.

Bajaj Finserv and Asian Paints are among the top gainers today.

TCS and Infosys are among the top losers today.

IT stocks are falling as the Nasdaq index fell overnight.

Broader markets are trading on a mixed note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up by 0.4% while the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.5%.

Sectoral indices are trading on mixed, with stocks in the telecom and realty sector witnessing some buying.

While stocks in the IT and energy sectors witness most of the selling.

Lakshmi Machine and Maruti Suzuki hit their 52-week high today.

In the commodity markets, gold and silver prices fell today.

Gold prices are trading lower by Rs 294. Currently, gold prices are trading at Rs 50,120 per 10 grams.

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

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading lower at Rs 51,600 per kg, down by around Rs 700 today. Silver prices have fallen a lot in recent days.

The rupee is trading at 79.5 against the US dollar

Speaking of stock markets, we often hear people talking about what is the right time to sell in the market and what is the right time to buy.

But rarely do people talk about what to hold. Because it is in holding the stocks where the real money lies, for example, take a look at the chart below:

Now, an investor would have made gains if he invested in Titan at beginning of June 2017 or even in late 2020.

But an investor that would have waited to hold the shares from the beginning of June 2017 till now would have made a whopping 392%.

Hence it seems like long-term investing is the smartest way to invest in the stock market.

In news from the consumer durables sector, Havells India to increase production capacity.

Electrical goods and appliance maker Havells on Wednesday said it is planning to expand washing machine production capacity at its Rajasthan's Ghiloth plant, where it will invest Rs 1300 m.

This expansion would be financed through internal accruals.

The Ghiloth plant already has the capacity to roll out 3 lakh units per annum and the company plans to add an additional capacity of 3.8 lakh units per annum.

The proposed capacity addition would be done by 30 June 2023.

Established in 2018, Havells Ghiloth is spread over 202,343 square meters and primarily manufactures air conditioners under the brand Lloyd.

Havells is now beginning to set up a cable manufacturing unit at Tumakuru in Karnataka for a proposed annual capacity of 3,48,000 kilometers with an estimated investment of Rs 3 bn.

Moving on to news from the power sector, NTPC is to raise funds.

NTPC has got shareholders' approval to raise up to Rs 120 bn through the issuance of non-convertible debentures on a private placement basis.

The funds to be raised in one or more tranches (not exceeding 12) will be used for capital expenditure, working capital and general corporate purposes, as per the notice for the AGM.

As the company is in capacity expansion mode, a major portion of the capital expenditure requirement has to be funded by debt.

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