Share markets in India are presently trading marginally higher.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 190 points, up 0.3%, at 58,487 levels.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading up by 45 points.

Bharti Airtel and HDFC are among the top gainers today. Wipro and Axis Bank are among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.1%.

The BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.3%.

On the sectoral front, stocks from the real estate sector are witnessing most of the selling pressure.

On the other hand, stocks from the telecom sector are witnessing most of the buying interest.

US stock futures are trading higher today, indicating a positive opening for Wall Street.

Nasdaq Futures are trading up by 36 points (up 0.2%) while Dow Futures are trading up by 23 points (up 0.1%)

The rupee is trading at 73.25 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 47,380 per 10 grams.

Gold prices today edged lower in Indian markets amid subdued global cues. On MCX, gold rates slipped marginally to Rs 47,406 per 10 grams. In the previous session, gold had edged 0.2% lower.

In global markets, gold prices edged higher, supported by a weak US dollar. The prospects of the US Federal Reserve delaying its tapering of bond purchases also helped the yellow metal. Spot gold rose 0.2% to US$ 1,826.8 per ounce.

Speaking of the precious yellow metal, how lucrative has gold been as a long-term investment in India?

The chart below shows the annual returns on gold over the last 15 years...

As you can see, barring just two years - 2013 and 2015, gold has delivered positive returns in 13 of the last 15 years.

The recent price volatility in the bullion market has rattled many traders. Even with the recent volatility in prices, gold remains among the best-performing commodities this year to combat the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Moving on to stock-specific news...

Among the buzzing stocks, today is Infosys.

Software major Infosys said that it has almost completed its buyback program. The company's buyback committee will meet on 8 September 2021 to consider the closure of the buyback program.

Infosys' board had approved a buyback plan up to Rs 92 bn which commenced on 25 June.

It had proposed to buy back shares at a maximum price of Rs 1,750 apiece.

In a regulatory filing, the company said,

• The buyback committee of the company will, on 8 September 2021, consider proposals, including but not to limited to, the closure of the buyback, pursuant to the terms of the public announcement, in view of the fact that the company has utilised 99.99% of the maximum buyback size (excluding transaction costs).

The outcome of these considerations will be duly disseminated to the stock exchanges in accordance with the applicable provisions of the market regulator's norms, it added.

As per the proposed timeline, the last date for the buyback would either be 24 December 2021 (six months from the date of the opening of the buyback) or when the company completes the buyback by deploying the amount equivalent to the maximum buyback size - whichever is earlier.

From the financial year 2021, Infosys has enhanced its capital allocation plan and said it will return 85% of the free cash flow cumulatively over a five-year period via buyback and dividends.

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

At the time of writing, Infosys shares were trading up by 0.9% on the BSE.

Moving on to news from the mining sector...

NMDC Draws Up Capex of Rs 37.5 bn for 2021-2022

NMDC is planning a capital expenditure of Rs 37.5 bn for the financial year 2022 and an iron ore output of 44 MT (million tonnes), up from 35 MT achieved during 2021.

The state-owned iron ore mining major has registered strong volume growth and revenue growth during the first five months of this fiscal ended August 2021 and expects to sustain this growth.

At an investor meeting, Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC, said,

• We have targeted iron ore output of 44 MT this fiscal. And we are drawing up a big Capex plan so that we can achieve a target of 100 MT per annum of iron ore output within 4-5 years.

A large chunk of the CAPEX, Rs 21.5 bn, is for the 3 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) Nagarnar Steel plant, and the rest, Rs 16 bn is for other projects including the slurry pipeline and its trading plant at Kirandul.

Apart from that, the company will be spending some money in the coal blocks, which are in the nature of strategic payments.

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