Asian stock markets are higher today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Nikkei 225 is up 0.3% while the Hang Seng is up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.2%. US markets inched to record closing highs in spite of a weak showing from financial stocks.

Meanwhile, Indian share markets have opened the day in the red. BSE Sensex is trading lower by 85 points and NSE Nifty is trading lower by 35 points. S&P BSE Mid Cap is trading down by 0.1% and S&P BSE Small Cap is trading up by 0.1% respectively.

Gains are largely seen in power stocks and software stocks. Bank stocks and auto stocks are leading the losses. The rupee is trading at Rs 64.92 against the US$.

Axis Bank share price plunged 7.3% in morning trade as the bank warned of more pressure on the asset quality side in the remaining quarter of the fiscal saying the second half will continue to be challenging.

Axis Bank posted a 38% rise in September quarter net profit at Rs 4.32 billion on low base effect. The bank had a net profit of Rs 3.19 billion in the year-ago period.

The bank, which already has highest bad loans among the top three private sector lenders, saw fresh slippages -- assets turning sour -- to the tune of Rs 89.36 billion, including Rs 48.67 billion in "divergence" found by the Reserve Bank on its FY17 provisions treatment.

Wipro share price is up by 1.8% in the morning trade. Wipro a 5.5% rise in sequential and 6% rise in year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at Rs 21.89 billion (US$349 million) for the September quarter.

The company said its IT services segment came in at Rs 22.8 billion (US$349 million) in the September quarter, up 4% on a QoQ basis.

Significantly, Wipro now expects to grow at-best 2% in constant currency terms in the current October-December period, which the management claims reflects the momentum it needs to end the current fiscal with industry-matching growth.

As per the reports, the VoLTE standard reduces cost of operations and offers better customer experience. Indian operators invested significantly in 3G network and spectrum from 2010 to 2015. Slow uptake of 3G in India means a lot of that investment has not been fully recovered.

From a subscriber standpoint, they are mainly concerned about the quality and speed of data connectivity and not the underlying technology. Globally, some operators such as Verizon and Telenor have considered shutting their 3G networks to simplify their network architectures.

Bharti Airtel share price opened the trading day up by 0.1%

Bharti Airtel Share Price has surged 23% in past 1 week

The stock price of Bharti Airtel has surged 23% in past one week after Bharti Airtel and Tata group announced an agreement to merge their mobile operations last week.

Airtel will acquire TTML's assets on a debt-free, cash-free basis, but will assume Rs 20 billion of Rs 100 billion of the unpaid spectrum fees that the Tata group owes to the department of telecommunications. All other liabilities and dues will be settled by the Tata group.

Moving on to news from metal sector. As per an article in The Economic Times, National Aluminum Company Ltd (Nalco) is planning to set up two joint ventures - one with US-based Almex and another with Russia's Rusal at the upcoming Angul Aluminium Park in Odisha.

The two JVs will manufacture special-grade aluminium to be used in metro trains, e-vehicles, aerospace and automobile sector. The local partner will have a minority stake in the JVs, Nalco will keep 40% and the remaining will be with the two foreign firms.

India's aluminium consumption is growing at a compound rate of 15% YoY, making it one of the largest consumer markets in the world. With the demand of aluminium expected to rise further, new initiatives such as one from Nalco is certainly expected to increase the capacity rapidly.

Nalco share price opened the trading day down by 0.4%