Asian stocks are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.39% while the Hang Seng is up 1.23%. The Nikkei 225 is trading down by 0.47%. US stocks advanced modestly on Tuesday as higher oil prices lifted the energy sector, but another slump in Facebook Inc shares curbed gains.

Back home, India share markets opened the day on a strong note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 243 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 64 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day up by 0.8%.

All sectoral indices have opened the day on a positive note with and witnessing maximum buying interest. The rupee is trading at 65.20 to the US$.

In the news from the IPO space. The Rs 42.3 billion initial public offering (IPO) of state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was under-subscribed on Tuesday, the last day of the share sale. The IPO witnessed an overall subscription of 99%.

Reportedly, the portion of shares reserved for institutional investors in the HAL IPO saw a subscription of 1.73 times or 173%, while those kept aside for retail investors and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) were subscribed to the extent of 38% and 3%, respectively.

HAL had set a price band of Rs 1,215-1,240 per share for the public offering.

HAL’s IPO is a pure secondary offering, where the government of India is selling a total of 34.1 million shares, representing a 10.2% stake in the company.

HAL is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, repair, overhaul, upgrade and servicing of aircraft, aero engines, helicopters, avionics, accessories and aerospace structures. It is the largest public defence public sector undertaking (PSU) in the country and makes fighter planes such as Su-30 MkI, MiG-21, MiG-27 and Jaguar.

Meanwhile, the Rs 5.1 billion IPO of auto parts maker Sandhar Technologies Ltd saw a subscription of 40% on Tuesday, the second day of its share sale.