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Asian share markets came under pressure today as a mixed Wall Street session gave investors few immediate reasons to increase their risk positions following the recent social media-driven trading chaos.

The Nikkei is trading lower by 0.7% and the Hang Seng is trading down by 1.1%.

US stock markets ended mixed overnight with Dow Jones Industrial Average extending its gains to the third day following a sharp rally in Alphabet shares post strong December quarter numbers. However, weakness in Amazon.com shares dragged the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% while the Nasdaq dropped 0.1%.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a negative note, tracking mixed global cues.

SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Adani Power, HPCL, NTPC, Tata Power, Godrej Properties and Zee Entertainment are among the 105 companies set to post their December quarter results later today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 199 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 42 points.

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

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened up by 0.6%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.7%.

Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the automobile sector and power sector witnessing buying interest. Banking stocks and finance stocks are trading in red.

Shares of Bajaj Auto and Ceat hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 72.85 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.7% at Rs 47,400 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 1.1% at Rs 67,824 per kg.

Speaking of stock markets, the biggest weighted sector in the market - financials - is back in action. The post budget rally was led by financials however as per our expert chartist Brijesh Bhatia, that is not the best sector to trade in the short-term.

As per Brijesh, energy stocks could be the next driver. In the video below, he explains why he is bullish on the energy sector.

Tune in to find out more:

In news from the power sector, as per an article in a leading financial daily, the government is proposing to delicense the power distribution sector allowing competition in the supply of last mile electricity connectivity to consumers.

Official sources said that the Power Ministry would soon move a draft bill proposing amendments in the Electricity Act that would remove the wording 'distribution licensee'.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

• What this will do is to maintain status quo of existing distribution entities but will now allow entry of other participants in a distribution area if it is able to manage infrastructure for supplying electricity to consumers.

In her Budget 2021-22 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that a framework will be put in place to give consumers alternatives to choose from among more than one distribution company. She had said that there is a need to provide choice to consumers by promoting competition and breaking monopolies existing in power distribution sector.

As per the plan, the delicensing will provide for infrastructure sharing by existing power companies. This will give an option to monetise assets by existing players while allowing new players to strengthen infrastructure and start supplying electricity to consumers on demand.

With regard to initiation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in the power sector, sources said that the reform measure could be undertaken at the state level while the Electricity Act will wait for competition to settle into the distribution sector first before proposing the changes.

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

Speaking of the power sector, it is interesting to note that the power exchanged in India is about 4.5% of the overall power production, as can be seen in the chart below:

This is abysmally low by global standards. This shows that there is big upside in the market share of power exchanges in India.

As per Tanushree Banerjee, co-head of Research at Equitymaster, India's power sector is currently in transition. It is driven by increasing reliance on short-term contracts and electricity spot markets. This transition to the short-term market is happening due to quickly evolving industry dynamics.

Tanushree believes the Indian power sector will see a surge in spot power volumes due to certain factors.

Back in August 2020, Tanushree recommended a high quality stock from this space. Subscribers can read the report here (requires subscription).

And if you are not a StockSelect subscriber, here's where you can sign up.

In news from the telecom sector, Bharti Airtel is among the top buzzing stocks today.

The country's second-largest telecom operator on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 8.5 billion as against a consolidated net loss of Rs 7.6 billion in the previous quarter.

The company's consolidated revenues in the quarter grew 6% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 265.2 billion.

The company's operating profit for the quarter stood at Rs 121.8 billion, while its operating margin came in at 45.9%.

During the quarter, Airtel reported a one-time loss of Rs 45.6 billion likely related to reassessment of some contractual and regulatory levies and network asset impairment.

The company's average revenue per user in the quarter came in at Rs 166, which was higher than analysts' estimates, as compared to Rs 162 in the previous quarter.

The country's second-largest telecom operator net added 12.9 million 4G subscribers during the quarter to take its tally of 4G subscribers to 165.6 million. Bharti Airtel's overall India subscriber base stood at 336 million at the end of the December quarter.

Bharti Airtel share price has opened the day up by 0.4%.

In other news from the telecom sector, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has accepted a petition from mobile phone companies seeking a truncated tenure for bank guarantees with a validity of one year instead of the mandated three as lenders are reluctant to provide fresh backing for a longer period.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea - both loss-making and facing cumulative adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of over Rs 760 billion are said to be in talks with State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and Axis Bank for fresh guarantees ahead of airwave auctions the start March 1.

The telcos need to provide bank guarantees to back their earnest money deposits (EMD) to bid in the auctions and to cover for their annual instalment amounts towards the airwaves they buy in the sale. A banker in the know said that he was in talks with the two telcos to iron out some differences.

The telcos had underlined their concern to the DoT pointing out banks' reluctance to provide longer bank guarantees (BGs) given the financial stress in a sector under over Rs 8 lakh crore of debt.

Airtel owes the government almost Rs 260 billion in AGR dues, while Vodafone Idea needs to pay about Rs 504 billion. Both need to pay in 10 equal instalments through March 31, 2031.

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

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

For information on how to pick stocks that have the potential to deliver big returns, download our special report now!

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