Asian share markets are trading on a positive note today. The Nikkei is up 0.2% while the Shanghai Composite gained 1.7%. Hang Seng is trading up by 1.5%.

Wall Street indices ended a choppy day of trading in US stock markets with a mixed finish Tuesday, after a rally in technology companies helped reverse an early slide.

The Dow Jones dropped 0.3% while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%.

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

Benchmark indices opened in green but quickly erased gains as FMCG and pharma stocks came under pressure.

Market participants are tracking shares of Kalyan Jewellers, BSE, and Lakshmi Machine as these companies will declare their earnings today.

Meanwhile, the initial public offering (IPO) of logistics and supply chain startup, Delhivery, will kick off for subscription today.

The company will raise Rs 52.4 bn through the primary route by selling its shares in the range of Rs 462-487 per equity share.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 276 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 64 points.

Bharti Airtel and M&M are among the top gainers today. Asian Paints, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is down 0.2%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 1%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the FMCG sector, healthcare sector, and capital goods sector witnessing most of the selling.

Power stocks, on the other hand, are trading in green.

Shares of SEL Manufacturing and Galactico Corporate hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 77.24 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.5% at Rs 50,330 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 0.4% at Rs 60,300 per kg.

Crude oil prices edged lower, sustaining the previous session's weakness that was caused by risks to demand from an economic recession and uncertainty about an embargo on Russian oil by the European Union.

In news from the mutual funds' space, net inflows into equity-linked schemes declined 44% month-on-month to Rs 158.9 bn in April against Rs 284.6 bn in March. This was due to uncertainty in the equity markets.

However, net inflows in the overall mutual fund industry stood at Rs 728.5 bn. Despite volatility last month, retail investors' trust in the mutual fund asset class continued to remain strong, as reflected in the growth in the assets under management (AUM).

Selling pressure in debt funds continued amid fears of rising interest rates and rising bond yields.

Meanwhile, investors jumped to buy gold through gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This category saw net inflows of Rs 11 bn compared to Rs 2.1 bn in the previous month.

This is the highest net inflow amount in gold ETFs registered after the inflows of Rs 14.8 bn in February 2020.

Speaking of mutual fund inflows, have a look at the chart below to see inflows over the year gone by:

March 2022 was the thirteenth straight month of inflows, and also the highest since at least April 2018 when AMFI revised its reporting format.

How the mutual fund buying and selling trend pans out in the coming months remains to be seen. Industry experts are confident enough that positive flows into equity mutual fund schemes will continue.

In news from the metal sector, the recent coal crisis has forced producers of sponge iron to scour the planet for supplies to keep their mills running, adding to inflationary pressures as they turn to pricier imports.

Jindal Steel & Power, which is running its sponge iron plants at 40% capacity as it doesn't have enough the fossil fuel, has contracted orders for 150,000 tons of thermal coal each for the months of May and June from South Africa and Mozambique, according to the company's MD V.R. Sharma.

This is the most it has ever imported in a month.

Note that India is battling an energy crisis, which is threatening to cut production in the world's biggest sponge iron industry.

Industries are running out of fossil fuel as Coal India diverts most of its output to power plants to keep the lights on amid worsening blackouts.

Sharma said that government or Coal India should try to cap coal prices to rein in energy costs.

The country should also speed up environmental clearances and set a production deadline for miners that have won leases in auctions to bring more output quickly, he added.

We will keep you updated on the latest developments in this space. Stay tuned.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Vodafone Idea is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Vodafone Idea's losses narrowed 6.5% to Rs 65.6 bn in the March quarter on the back of revenue growth. In the same period last year, the company had posted a loss of Rs 70.2 bn.

On a sequential basis, net loss declined by 9%.

Gross revenue in the quarter under review increased by 6.5% to Rs 102.4 bn boosted by a 20% tariff hike.

The company said average daily revenue growth was the highest since the merger of Vodafone with Idea.

The company's revenue for the quarter was impacted due to the discontinuation of interconnect usage charges.

Telecom companies used to pay an IUC of six paise per minute for calls made from their network to other service providers and this was discontinued from 1 January 2021 on orders of the telecom sector regulator.

This had led to a drop in revenue and ARPU for the company in the fourth quarter of last year.

In a statement, Vodafone's CEO and MD Ravinder Takkar said,

While the overall subscriber base has been impacted primarily on account of the tariff increase, the 4G subscriber base continued to grow on the back of superior data and voice experience offered by Vi GIGAnet.

We are in the process of creating differentiated digital experience for our customers and added several new digital offerings across various genres during the quarter.

Vodafone Idea's share price is currently trading up by 1.6%.