Asian share markets opened higher today following Wall Street gains despite the European Central Bank's largest rate hike ever and more hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve.

The Nikkei rose by 0.3% while the Hang Seng was up by 1.2%. The Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 0.3%.

Wall Street indices posted gains on Thursday mainly lifted by financial institutions and healthcare companies, as investors digested hawkish remarks from policymakers that cemented bets of a large interest rate hike later this month.

The Dow Jones rose by 0.6% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended higher by 0.6%.

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

Benchmark indices opened on a positive note today following the trend on SGX Nifty and tracking gains in global peers.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 289 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 96 points.

IndusInd Bank and SBI are among the top gainers today. The best banking stocks in India are all rallying.

Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finserv are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are trading on a positive note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up by 0.6% while the BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.7%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with the exception of the telecom sector. Stocks in the metal sector and basic materials sector are witnessing most of the buying.

Metal stocks were falling for months but now the scenario has changed. The top metal stocks in India are what you should look at as they will be prime beneficiaries of any PLI scheme.

Lakshmi Machine and SKF India hit their 52-week high today.

The reason we say this is because dividend investing is an evergreen strategy in the stock markets and will continue to prevail in the years to come, but it is more so relevant in the current environment where uncertainty is ruling the stock market.

In the commodity markets, gold and silver prices rise today. Today, gold prices are trading higher by Rs 167. Currently, gold prices are trading at Rs 50,523 per 10 grams.

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

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading higher at Rs 54,944 per kg. Silver prices too have fallen a lot in recent days.

The rupee is trading at 79.6 against the US dollar.

In news from the pharma sector, Biocon's share price has been under pressure.

Take a look at the chart below:

Various reasons were responsible for this downfall of Biocon's share price. 

Further in news from the auto sector, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) comes out with some good news.

The Mahindra XUV 400 EV was launched in the Indian market yesterday at 7.30 pm (IST) on the occasion of World electric vehicle (EV) Day. The live stream was available on Mahindra's official website "www.mahindraelectricautomobile.com"

MahindraXUV400 had tweeted earlier,

"Lights. Camera. Electric. XUV400, the new all-electric SUV from the house of Mahindra will be revealed soon to redefine fun."

The latest electric vehicle from M&M will be competing with the highest-selling electric vehicle i.e. Tata Nexon EV. Though there is no official announcement about the price of the Mahindra XUV 400 EV, it is expected to be more than Rs 15 lakhs.

Looks like M&M is moving fast in the EV lane. Owing to its development in the EV sector, M&M's share price is rising it appears.

Moving on to the news from the mining sector, Coal India struggles with poor margins.

Coal India on Thursday informed investors that increasing coal prices remain difficult in the current context when the economy is grappling with high inflation.

The miner was seeking to raise prices to mitigate high input costs on account of high diesel and explosives prices, among others. Coal India has not raised prices in the last four years.

Coal India was rather focused on ramping up production and cost control to overcome the cost pressure.

The miner posted its best-ever profit for the April-June quarter, backed by high demand for coal.

It posted a 179% year-on-year rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 88.3 bn for the first quarter.

Coal India was hopeful of reaching close to the H1 production target of 306 m tonnes by September. For the financial year 2022-23, the annual production target is 700 m tonnes.

Coal India expects to achieve production levels of above 900 m tonnes by 2024-25.

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