Asian stock markets are trading on a positive note today, helped by expectations monetary policy will remain accommodative while COVID-19 vaccine rollouts helped ease fears of another dangerous wave of coronavirus infections.

The Nikkei is trading up by 0.3% while the Hang Seng is up 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite is trading higher by 1.3%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices jumped on Friday as technology companies helped lift stocks to a record high.

Stocks edged higher most of the last week as investors remain cautiously optimistic about economic growth and progress against the pandemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 297 points, or 0.9% to 33,801. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq rose 71 points or 0.5%. For the week, the Dow gained 2% while the Nasdaq rose 3.1%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a negative note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

Benchmark indices fell over 2% in early trade as India continued to report a record spike in COVID cases. India recorded over 2.75 lakh new COVID cases in last 24 hours, as per Worldometer.

Market participants will track Macrotech Developers share price as the shares will list on the bourses today. The IPO that ran between April 7-9 was subscribed 1.36 times.

ACC, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Bajaj Consumer Care and CRISIL will release their quarterly earnings today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 1,340 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 378 points.

IndusInd Bank is among the top gainers today. Wipro, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 3.4%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading lower by 3.2%.

All sectoral indices are trading deep in the red with stocks in the automobile sector, banking sector and finance sector witnessing most of the selling pressure.

Shares of Linde India hit their 52-week high today.

The rupee is trading at 74.64 against the US$.

Gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 47,410 per 10 grams.

Among gold ETFs, Kotak Gold ETF and Axis Gold ETF are among the top gainers today.

In news from the finance sector, non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to extend the one-time restructuring scheme of MSME advances till March 31, 2022, as these players are unable to revive their businesses.

In February last year, the Reserve Bank had permitted one-time restructuring of existing MSME advances, classified as 'standard' without downgrade in the asset classification subject to certain additional provisioning and other compliances.

The time limit for implementation of the scheme was till December 31, 2020.

In a recent letter written to RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, FIDC, an industry body of NBFCs, said due to the severe second wave of COVID-19, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have not been able to revive their economic activities and are in urgent need of support from the lenders.

The industry body also urged the RBI to allow restructuring of certain MSMEs loans that already have got similar relief under the same scheme during the first wave of COVID-19, but are now facing challenges.

The FIDC has also requested the central bank to provide priority status lending (PSL) classification benefit for bank lending to NBFCs on a permanent basis. Earlier this month, the RBI extended the PSL benefit by six months till September 30, 2021.

In a separate letter to MSME minister Nitin Gadkari, the FIDC requested to reinstate guarantee cover under Credit guarantee fund scheme for NBFCs (CGS-II) to 75% which was recently revised to 50%.

How the above developments pan out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest news from this space.

Moving on to news from the banking sector, HDFC Bank is among the top buzzing stocks today.

India's largest private sector lender HDFC Bank on Saturday reported an 18.2% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit to Rs 81.9 billion for the quarter ended March.

The lender reported a net interest income of Rs 171.2 billion, up 12.6% from a year-ago quarter.

HDFC Bank's pre-provision operating profit in the quarter stood at Rs 155.3 billion, up 20%.

HDFC Bank's gross non-performing loans ratio stood at 1.32% as against 1.38% on a proforma basis in the previous quarter.

The private sector lender reported a net NPA ratio of 0.4% for the quarter. The lender's provisions in the quarter rose 24% on a YoY basis to Rs 46.9 billion.

"Given that the current 'second wave' has significantly increased the number of COVID-19 cases in India and uncertainty remains, the board has considered it prudent to currently not propose dividend for the financial year ended March 31, 2021," the bank said.

HDFC Bank has provided around Rs 5 billion to refund the interest-on-interest amount to borrowers on the moratorium loans. The bank will, however, await a final decision from Indian Banks Association (IBA) on this concerning the methodology to calculate this amount.

HDFC Bank share price has opened the day down by 4.2%.

Note that, HDFC Bank is one that has always adapted to changing times.

HDFC Bank wanted to transform itself from a leader in the physical banking to a leader in online banking. Since then, HDFC Bank has constantly focused on going digital.

In 2004, only 10% of customer transactions were initiated through internet and mobile. The number has gone up to 92% in 2019.

It is a great example of a company which has taken advantage of its scale and embraced disruption rather than fear it.

These are traits that one should look for in picking stocks. They not only withstand the disruption but also gain from it in the long-run.