Asian share markets rose in early trade today, shrugging off worries about an increase in regional coronavirus infections and a subdued session on Wall Street.

The Hang Seng is trading up by 1.5% while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%. The Nikkei zoomed 2.3%.

In US stock markets, technology stocks pulled Wall Street indices lower on Monday, as signs of inflationary pressures building up in the economy kept investors worried about monetary policy tightening.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day 0.2% lower and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.4%.

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

A total of 35 companies, including Tata Motors, Canara Bank, Aarti Industries, Abbott India, Torrent Pharma, and Route Mobile are set to release their quarterly earnings today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 629 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 192 points.

Bajaj Finance is among the top gainers today. Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index and the BSE Small Cap index have opened up by 1.4% and 1%, respectively.

All sectoral indices are trading in green with stocks in the metal sector and power sector witnessing most of the buying interest.

Shares of MRPL and Prism Johnson hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 73.21 against the US$.

In news from the commodities space, gold prices rose to their highest in more than three months as a weaker US dollar and growing inflationary pressure lifted bullion's appeal as an inflation hedge.

In Indian markets, gold prices for the latest contract on MCX are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 48,413 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.8% at Rs 73,900 per kg.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund (ETF), said its holdings rose 0.7% to 1,035.93 tonnes on Monday from 1,028.36 tonnes in the prior session.

Among gold ETFs, HDFC Gold ETF and SBI Gold ETF are among the top gainers today.

In other news, the markets regulator proposed a framework for setting up a spot gold exchange, in a discussion paper released on Monday.

This proposal was first announced by the finance minister in the Union Budget this year.

The watchdog has sought comments on allowing trading in quantities as low as 5 grams, permitting multiple spot exchanges, incentivizing trading on the exchange platform, and having a single gold price across the country with transportation cost adjusted as premium or discounted from traded price.

Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), BSE and NSE are together setting up a spot exchange in the GIFT City.

In the discussion paper, the regulator has sought comments on whether the proposed gold spot exchange should be set up by the existing stock exchange either through a separate segment or as a new asset class in the existing segment.

To simplify trading, it has proposed to convert physical gold into electronic gold receipts (EGR), which will be issued by regulated vault companies.

The regulator has also sought comments on the minimum quantity of gold tradable.

Post the Budget announcement, the regulator constituted two working groups to come up with the framework. The last date for submitting comments is June 18.

How this pans out remains to be seen. Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on the latest developments in this space.

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.

Moving on to news from the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Monday reported an 11.1% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 7.6 bn.

In the December quarter (Q3FY21), profit stood at Rs 8.5 bn.

Net profit fell sequentially despite the company reporting an exceptional gain of Rs 4.4 bn for the quarter and a near-doubling of other income to Rs 839 m.

Bharti Airtel's consolidated revenue from operations fell 3% sequentially to Rs 257.5 bn, which was also below estimates.

Revenue performance was dragged down by the company's India mobile operations where sales declined 4.7% to Rs 140.8 bn in the reported quarter.

The company reported an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 145 per user, a 13% sequential fall. It was Rs 166 in Q3FY21.

The company's India's revenues grew 17.5% YoY on a comparable basis and 9.6% YoY on a reported basis.

Commenting on the challenges posed by the second wave of coronavirus, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel said, "We recognize the criticality of our role as a telecom operator in keeping our customers and nation connected in such times. Our focus continues to be on delivering uninterrupted services and great end-user experience while ensuring the safety of our employees and partners."

Bharti Airtel's share price has opened the day down by 0.2%.