Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 12 points, flat at 52,222 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 4 points.

Coal India and ONGC are among the top gainers today. Nestle India and Hindalco are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.5%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.7%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the energy sector, are witnessing most of the buying interest.

On the other hand, stocks from the banking sector, are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

US stock futures are trading lower today, indicating a negative opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading down by 17 points (down 0.1%) while Dow Futures are trading down by 6 points (flat).

The rupee is trading at 72.99 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 48,646 per 10 grams.

Gold prices extended their decline in Indian markets today after a sharp fall in the previous session. On MCX, gold futures were down 0.1% to Rs 48,619 per 10 grams. In the previous session, gold prices in India had slumped 2% or Rs 950 per 10 grams, tracking an overnight dip in global rates.

In global markets, gold prices fell to over a two-week low, hurt by stronger dollar and bond yields. Spot gold slid 0.4% to US$ 1,862.7 per ounce after tumbling 2% in the previous session.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Britannia.

Britannia Industries on 3 June said that its board has approved a proposal to raise Rs 7 bn by issuing bonus debentures to eligible equity shareholders.

"The bonus debenture committee of the board of directors of the company has approved the allotment of unsecured, non-convertible, redeemable, fully paid up debentures having a face value of Rs 29 each to the members holding equity shares as on 27 May 2021," Britannia said in a regulatory filing.

The company said the size of the issue is Rs 7 bn and the bonus debentures are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

As per Britannia, the bonus debentures will be redeemed after three years from the date of allotment.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more updates from this space.

At the time of writing, Britannia shares were trading down by 0.3% on the BSE.

Speaking of the FMCG sector, have a look at the chart below which shows the performance of BSE Sensex and BSE FMCG index since 2009:

While Sensex has offered 393% returns since 2009, the BSE FMCG index has gone up a staggering 532% returns over the same period.

Richa Agarwal, Senior Research Analyst at Equitymaster, and Editor of the smallcap service, Hidden Treasure, believe this outperformance could continue for many years.

She said that with a rising population and standards of living, Indian's consumption demand for FMCG products will skyrocket over the coming years.

Moving on to news from the macroeconomic space...

Reserve Bank of India Monetary Policy Highlights

The Reserve Bank of India kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged amid COVID-19 uncertainty and fears over inflation in its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

The bank said that the repo rate (lending rate) will continue at 4% and the reverse repo rate (RBI's borrowing rate) at 3.35%. The panel had also left rates unchanged during the last MPC meet in April 2021.

The policy stance has been maintained accommodative by the central bank in an effort to maintain liquidity in the system as the country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic implications.

Anticipating some impact on the economy of the second COVID-19 wave, the RBI has trimmed the growth forecast for the year 2021-22 to 9.5% from the earlier 10.5%.

The central bank has also stepped up its efforts to ensure liquidity in the system with another GSAP worth Rs 1.2 tn planned for this fiscal year. It will buy Rs 400 bn worth of government securities on 17 June.

A separate liquidity window of Rs 150 bn for the hospitality sector was also announced. Banks can provide support to hotels and restaurants, tourism, aviation support services, and other services under this program.

We will keep you posted on more updates from this space. Stay tuned.