Asian stock markets are higher today tracking gains on Wall Street, with investors focused on earnings reports by major companies including Sony due later in the day.

The Nikkei is up 1.7% while MSCI's index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%.

In US stock markets, all three Wall Street indices advanced on Tuesday and the energy index closed at a multi-year high, although seesaw trading reflected investor uncertainty about how to play the current market.

Note that the recent sessions have been choppy, due to the prospect of an aggressive rate-hike campaign by the US Fed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.8% while the Nasdaq zoomed 0.7%.

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

Benchmark indices started on a strong note amid positive global cues and budget euphoria.

Market participants are tracking shares of HDFC, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas, Dabur India, and Tata Consumer Products as these companies will announce their December quarter results today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 559 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 157 points.

Bajaj Finserv and IndusInd Bank are among the top gainers today.

Tech Mahindra, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading higher by 1% and 1.5%, respectively.

All sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the banking sector, finance sector and healthcare sector witnessing most of the buying.

Shares of Sun Pharma and Capri Global hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.76 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.2% at Rs 47,850 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 61,434 per kg.

Crude oil prices rose towards last week's seven-year highs after data showing a fall in US crude stocks underlined solid demand, but investors remain cautious ahead of an OPEC+ meeting due later in the day.

In news from the telecom sector, Tata Teleservices is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Teleservices on Tuesday said it has decided not to opt for conversion of interest related to AGR dues into equity, as the interest amount eligible for such conversion has turned out to be far lesser than the company's own calculations.

Initially, the company had decided to go for conversion of interest on AGR dues into equity and had also communicated its decision to the telecom department.

In response, the telecom department told the company that the NPV (net present value) of the interest, which is eligible for conversion into equity, is only Rs 1.95 bn as against the company's calculation of Rs 8.5 bn, Tata Teleservices said in a regulatory filing.

The company added that it is "not desirous of opting for conversion of interest into equity".

Last month, Tata Teleservices had said it will opt for conversion of the interest amount on AGR dues into equity and post-conversion, the government's holding in the company is expected to be around 9.5%.

Note that the telecom sector got a big relief when the government last year approved a blockbuster relief package that included a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid and 100% foreign investment through the automatic route.

The government had also given telecom companies the option to convert the interest amount pertaining to the moratorium period into equity.

Tata Teleservices' share price is currently trading up by 5%.

Speaking of Tata Teleservices, have a look at the chart below to see the company's performance over the past one year.

Shares of the company are up a massive 680% although the gains have come down in the past two weeks when the company's stock was locked in the lower circuit band.

Moving on to news from the paints sector, Kansai Nerolac Paints has reported a 38.7% decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1.3 bn for the third quarter ended December 2021.

This was on account of inflationary pressures on raw material inputs. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2 bn in the corresponding quarter last year.

While profits declined, revenue from operations during the quarter jumped 13.7% to Rs 18.1 bn, compared with Rs 15.9 bn in the year-ago period.

The paint company's total expenses stood at Rs 16.5 bn, a jump of 23.7% as against Rs 13.3 bn a year ago.

Commenting on the performance, the company's vice-chairman and MD H M Bharuka said:

The quarter witnessed a good demand for decoratives. In auto, demand was muted on account of the semiconductor chips shortages.

He added that on raw material costs, the quarter continued to witness inflationary pressures along with volatility in crude and exchange rates. Supply chain tightness continued during the quarter.

He also said that looking forward, it is expected that the impact of Omicron on demand will be limited.

The company affected price increases in decorative, and cumulative price increase so far is over 20%. Similarly, across all industrial segments, an average price increase of around 18% has been implemented.

Kansai Nerolac's share price is currently trading up by 1.1%.