Asian share markets opened higher today following gains on Wall Street, with investors shifting their focus to fresh data due in the coming days for cues on US monetary policy.

The Nikkei rose by 0.8% while the Hang Seng rose by 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.3%.

Stocks on Wall Street rallied again on Thursday, extending the market's winning streak to a fourth day and placing the major indices on pace for weekly gains.

A report showed more workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than expected. A report on Friday will show more broadly how the jobs market is doing.

The Dow Jones was up 1.1% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was higher by 2.3%.

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

Benchmark indices opened on a strong note tracking the trend on SGX Nifty and extended gains as the session progressed.

At present, the BSE Sensex is trading higher by 264 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 73 points.

L&T and M&M are among the top gainers today.

Tata Steel and Asian Points are among the top losers today.

Broader markets are also trading on a firm note. The BSE Mid Cap index is up 0.1%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.4%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a positive note with the exception of the realty, metal, and telecom sectors. Stocks in the capital goods and Industrial sector witness most of the buying.

Shares of Siemens and Voltamp Transformers hit their 52-week highs.

In the commodity markets, gold prices trade flat. Today, prices are up by Rs 8, trading at Rs 50,629 per 10 grams.

Note that despite trading in the green yesterday, gold prices have fallen and have taken quite a knock in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading lower at Rs 56,828 per kg.

All through 2022, the stock markets have been extremely volatile. One day the markets are falling like there's no tomorrow and the next day they are up by 1%.

However, this also means some fundamentally strong stocks are available at cheap prices. It might seem like it is the perfect time to go long in the market and make the most of the dips.

In news from the global markets, 2021 was a stellar year for share markets across the globe. Everyone around me was talking about share markets and how money was multiplying.

Due to lockdown and lack of other investment opportunities, people were investing huge sums in share markets. All the stocks were booming regardless of their fundamentals.

The concept of value investing seemed outdated.

Cathie Woods the founder and chief investment officer of ARK Investment Management LLC, made a name for herself by investing in disruptive technologies. Her fund delivered stellar returns in the post-Covid rally. At its peak, the returns were 3x.

But with the beginning of 2022, the situation started changing and markets started correcting. The rising stocks were now falling because of the changed economic scenario.

The ARK fund saw its downfall in 2022.

However, Warren Buffett, the ace investor's stocks were on the rise in 2022. I guess this makes the difference between value investing and investing quite clear.

Below is the chart of the performance of ARK fund and Berkshire Hathaway in 2022 which clearly paints the differences between investing and value investing.

In news from the power sector, Tata Power plans to spread its wings even wider in the renewable energy space and plans to become the top renewable energy stock in India. It will spend Rs 750 bn to expand capacity in its renewable business.

Tata Power held its 103^rd annual meeting on Thursday. The chairman - N Chandrasekhran announced in the meeting that an amount of Rs 100 bn would be spent in fiscal 2022-23 to take the total capital expenditure (capex) during the financial year to Rs 140 bn.

The chairman further said that Tata Power was taking a pragmatic approach to achieve its renewable energy targets and had added 707 megawatts (MW) of renewable capacity in 2021-22 (FY22).

This increased Tata Power's clean and green portfolio to 34% of total capacity and the company aims to raise this to 60% in the next five years.

Tata Power is pushing its renewable energy business at a time when its rivals -- the Adani group and Reliance Industries (RIL) -- are also ramping up their clean energy portfolio amid India's plans to shift to green fuels from fossil fuels.

Further in the news from the automobile sector, India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer - Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) gearing up for the EV revolution.

With a plan to invest over US $ 1 billion in electric vehicle ambition, Mahindra & Mahindra on Thursday raised, Rs 19.3 bn at a valuation of up to Rs. 700.7 bn from British International Investment into a new 4 Wheel Passenger Electric Vehicle Co. to be set up by M&M.

Despite trailing in the EV race against Tata Motors, Interestingly, Mahindra & Mahindra is raising money in its EV subsidiary at almost a similar valuation as the maker of Nexon and Harrier. TPG invested Rs 75 bn for 11-15% valued in Tata Motors at around Rs 700 bn.

Further in the news from the mining sector, Vedanta is set to acquire a company.

Mumbai-based mining major, Vedanta on Thursday announced its plan to fully acquire the 1,200MW power plant, Athena Chhattisgarh Power for a consideration of nearly Rs 5.7 bn.

Athena is a 1,200 MW power plant located at Jhanjgir Champa district, Chhattisgarh, India at a distance of ~80kms from BALCO and ~180kms from Jharsuguda. The Plant has 2 units of 600MW each.

Vedanta expects the acquisition to complete in the current financial year 2022-23.

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