10 things you need to know before the opening bell

SUMMARY

Indian shares are likely to open higher, maintaining the previous day's momentum. Asian shares traded mixed as investors awaited fresh directional cues from US-China trade negotiations, and as a weaker Wall Street finish also capped broader gains. At 07:09 AM, the SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50's trend in India, was up 0.18 percent at 11,053, indicating a positive start for the Sensex and the Nifty.

By CNBC-TV18Mar 7, 2019 7:27:38 AM IST (Updated)

1. Asia:MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed. Australian stocks added 0.2 percent while Japan's Nikkei declined 0.5 percent.

2. US: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.02 points, or 0.05 percent, to 25,806.63, the S&P 500 lost 3.16 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,789.65 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.21 points, or 0.02 percent, to 7,576.36.

3. Markets At Close On Tuesday: Indian shares ended higher for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, driven by gains in financial stocks such as Axis Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd, while investors also put their money into mid-cap stocks. The benchmark BSE Sensex closed up 1.05 percent at 36,442.54, its highest closing level since February 11, while the broader NSE Nifty50 ended 1.14 percent higher at 10,987.45, the highest close since February 8.

4. Crude Oil Prices:US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $56.15 per barrel, down 41 cents, or 0.7 percent. WTI futures closed little changed on Tuesday.

International Brent futures had yet to trade after closing up 0.3 percent on Tuesday.

5. Rupee: The rupee closed at 70.91, down by 18 paise against the dollar on Friday.

6. Dollar: In the currency market, the dollar held gains after rising against its peers on Tuesday's upbeat ISM non-manufacturing sector report. The dollar was steady at 111.83 yen after going as high as 112.135 overnight, its strongest since December 20.

7. FIIs& DIIs: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 752 crore on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 581 crore on March 5.

8. Unemployment Rate of India: The unemployment rate in India rose to 7.2 percent in February 2019, the highest since September 2016, and up from 5.9 percent in February 2018, according to data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) that was released on Tuesday. The figures will be unwelcome news for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of a general election due to be held by early May.

9. Brexit Talks Fail: Talks between British Prime Minister Theresa May's top government lawyer and European Union negotiators to win concessions from the bloc on Brexit ended with no agreement in Brussels on Tuesday. May has sent Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to seek changes to her deal in a last-ditch bid to get it through parliament and smooth Britain's departure from the European Union.

10. DPIIT -Ecommerce Policy Extension: The Department is likely to extend the deadline for feedback on the draft ecommerce norms from March 9 to March 31, sources privy to the developments told CNBC-TV18. This move comes after ecommerce companies sought an extension of the deadline for more analysis and assessment of the national proposed policy.