Asian share markets are down today as growing fears of the spreading Delta variant would harm the global economic recovery sent riskier assets, including oil, skidding sharply.

The Hang Seng is down 1.1% while the Nikkei is trading lower by 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite is trading down by 0.5%.

In US stock markets, Wall Street indices fell sharply with the Dow sinking more than 2% on fears that a spike in Covid-19 cases would derail a broader economic recovery.

New infections surged in parts of Asia and England, while US Covid-19 cases soared 70% last week, fueled by the Delta variant.

The Dow dropped 726 points or 2.1% in a broad-based route that sent all 30 members lower. At one point during the session, the Dow was down 946 points before recovering some ground into the close.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite slid 1.1%, posting its fifth-straight day of losses and worst losing streak since October.

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

Market participants will track shares of Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, CRISIL, and Network 18 as these companies are slated to post their June quarter results today.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 201 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading lower by 46 points.

UltraTech Cement is among the top gainers today. HCL Tech, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened down by 0.3%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading on a flat note.

Barring FMCG stocks, all sectoral indices are trading in red with stocks in the power sector and finance sector witnessing most of the selling.

Shares of CRISIL and ACC hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.85 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading up by 0.1% at Rs 48,109 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading down by 1.6% at Rs 67,260 per kg.

Crude oil prices plunged more than 7%, driven down both by worries about future demand and by an OPEC+ agreement to increase supply.

In news from the steel sector, Tata Steel is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Tata Steel's mining company, Tata Steel Mining (TSML) and Jindal Stainless (JSL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly utilize chrome ore locked up in the boundary between their mines located in Sukinda of Jajpur district, Odisha.

Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, Jindal Stainless said,

• This is a very unique collaboration where JSL & TSML will derive maximum value from a joint mining effort. This effort will enhance the availability of ore in the region without any adverse environmental impact, as it's an already explored area.

Both the companies would now initiate steps to get necessary statutory approvals from concerned authorities before jointly starting mining operations.

In other news, Tata Steel has been awarded the Dun & Bradstreet corporate award 2021 for best sectoral performance in the iron & steel category.

In a virtual event, Dun & Bradstreet announced the 2021 edition of India's top 500 companies.

The theme for this year's awards was 'Laying the Foundations for an ESG-Ready Corporate India' which formed the basis of evaluation for this edition.

For more than two decades, Dun & Bradstreet has been compiling an annual list of India's top companies. These companies have grown faster than the Indian economy over the past 20 years, and contribute to nearly 20% of India's GDP, 30% of India's exports and almost 33% of India's tax revenues.

Tata Steel's share price has opened the day down by 0.4%.

Speaking of Tata Steel, note that shares of the company have seen a spectacular rally in their shares over the past year.

Tata Steel was up for the fifth straight session in a row yesterday.

It is up 263% in the last year as compared to 43% gains in NSE Nifty and 155% gain in the Nifty Metal index.

How the stock performs going forward remains to be seen.

Moving on to news from the mutual fund's space, the market regulator on Monday proposed introducing a swing pricing mechanism for open-ended mutual fund debt schemes as part of efforts to ensure fairness in the treatment of investors, especially during times of market dislocation.

The regulator has suggested partial swing during normal times and a mandatory full swing during times of market dislocation.

The suggestion is aimed at ensuring fairness in the treatment of entering and exiting in mutual fund schemes, particularly during market dislocation.

Generally, swing pricing refers to a process for adjusting a fund's net asset value (NAV) to effectively pass on transaction costs stemming from net capital activity to the investors concerned.

The regulator will examine the applicability of swing pricing mechanism to equity schemes, hybrid schemes, solution-oriented schemes, and other schemes, in phases.

Swing pricing should be made applicable to all unitholders with an exemption for redemptions up to Rs 2 lakh for all unitholders and up to Rs 5 lakh for senior citizens at a mutual fund level.

During market dislocation, the applicability of the minimum swing factor will be as stipulated by the watchdog, which will be risk-based.

Beyond this, the asset management company (AMC) can choose to levy a higher swing factor if it considers such a factor to be in the best and equitable interest of its unitholders based on pre-defined parameters.

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