Asian stock markets surged today, joining a rally on Wall Street overnight as potential risks from Fed monetary tightening to the Ukraine war and a slowdown in China became less murky.

The Nikkei is up 3.2% while the Shanghai Composite rallied 2.6%. The Hang Seng was the biggest gainer and surged a massive 5.6%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices shook off an afternoon stumble and ended higher after the Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate hike since 2018.

The Dow Jones climbed 1.5% while the Nasdaq rallied 3.8%.

The US Fed launched a high-risk effort Wednesday to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s, raising its benchmark short-term interest rate and signaling up to six additional rate hikes this year.

The central bank's policymakers expect inflation to remain elevated, ending 2022 at 4.3%, far above the Fed's 2% annual target.

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

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 807 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 238 points.

Asian Paints and HDFC are among the top gainers today.

ONGC, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

In line with the up-move in benchmarks, broader markets also extended profits.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index are trading higher by 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively.

All sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the consumer durables sector, banking sector and finance sector witnessing most of the buying.

Shares of Timken India and Trent hit their 52-week highs today.

Meanwhile, Voltas rose over 4% after the company announced forming a JV with Highly International (Hong Kong) to manufacture and sell inverter compressors for room air conditioners, and others.

The rupee is trading at 75.95 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.8% at Rs 51,544 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 1.6% at Rs 68,354 per kg.

Crude oil prices rose after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said a decline in oil demand due to higher prices would not offset a shut-in of Russian oil supplies.

In news from the construction & engineering space, Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Rail Vikas Nigam on Wednesday said its board has approved an interim dividend for the financial year 2021-2022. The company, in a regulatory filing, declared an interim dividend of Rs 1.58 per equity share of Rs 10 each.

RVNL also fixed the record date as 25 March 2022 for the interim dividend, while the payment for the same will be completed on or before 14 April 2022.

RVNL was incorporated as a 100% owned PSU of the Ministry of Railways in January 2003 with the objectives of raising extra-budgetary resources and implementation of projects relating to creation and augmentation of the capacity of rail infrastructure on fast track basis.

In news from the automobile sector, Maruti Suzuki is looking at producing more than half a million CNG-powered vehicles in the upcoming fiscal year amid growing consumer preference triggered by a sharp increase in the price of motor fuels.

The country's largest carmaker has firmed up plans to produce 600,000 CNG vehicles in fiscal 2023 which is more than half of a million CNG vehicles it has sold in the local market cumulatively in the last two decades.

The company clocked the milestone of registering cumulative sales of 1 million CNG vehicles earlier this week on Tuesday.

The company's chairman R C Bhargava said that until electric vehicles (EVs) become mainstream, it's important to look at alternative fuels to reduce carbon emissions:

CNG emits 20% less CO2 than petrol. In fact, bio CNG is carbon negative. Lower prices (of CNG) make it a very good option, especially for small car buyers.

In the current fiscal year itself, Maruti Suzuki expects CNG sales to expand nearly 50% to 235,000-240,000 units. The company has pending orders for an additional 115,000 units.

Maruti Suzuki's share price is currently trading up by 1.4%.

Moving on to news from the EV space, Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday expressed optimism about the adoption of electric and alternative fuel-powered vehicles, saying the scenario will change in the next five years.

The Union Road Transport and Highways minister stated while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, that sales of petrol and diesel vehicles will fall day by day while that of electric and alternate fuel-powered vehicles will increase.

He cited an example that if a customer has to choose between an EV and a petrol car where the cost is the same at Rs 15 lakh, with a fuel cost of Rs 50,000 (petrol) and Rs 2,000 (for EV) then one would go for a more economical option.

The minister dismissed the issue of lack of EV charging infrastructure and stated that the day will come in a year when EV charging arrangements will be everywhere including in all offices.

The minister acknowledged that battery cost is a major challenge:

Presently lithium ion is a big challenge. We don't have lithium ion. About 81% batteries we manufacture here in India. Now lithium ion is available in the world. Government is in the process to acquire some mines.

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

Speaking of EVs, have a look at the chart below which shows the massive opportunity in the two-wheeler EVs.