10 things you need to know before the opening bell

SUMMARY

Indian shares are likely to open flat on Tuesday, despite the Asian markets being positive on recent US data and the Federal Reserve's dovish stance. At 07:12 AM, the SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50's trend in India, was unchanged at 10,947.50, pointing to a flat start for the Sensex and the Nifty.

By CNBC-TV18Feb 5, 2019 7:24:13 AM IST (Published)

1. Asian stocks: Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4 percent before erasing gains while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.3 percent. Australian shares jumped 1.95 percent. Elsewhere in Asia, trade was light, with markets in greater China, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia are all closed for the Lunar New Year.(Reuters)

2. US stocks: The Dow rose 175.48 points, or 0.7 percent, to 25,239.37, the S&P 500 gained 18.34 points, or 0.68 percent, to 2,724.87 and the Nasdaq added 83.67 points, or 1.15 percent, to 7,347.54.(Reuters)

3. Market At Close On Monday: Indian shares reversed early losses to end higher in choppy trade on Monday, lifted by index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC, with the focus shifting to Thursday’s RBI policy meeting. The benchmark BSE Sensex closed up 0.31 percent at 36,582.74 while the broader NSE Nifty ended 0.17 percent higher at 10,912.25. Both the indexes gained for the third straight session.

4. Crude Oil: US WTI crude futures were at $54.73 per barrel at 0020 GMT, up 16 cents from their last settlement. They closed down 1.3 percent on Monday, after earlier touching their highest since November 21 at $55.75 a barrel. International Brent crude oil futures had yet to trade, after closing down 0.4 percent in the previous session.(Reuters)

5. Rupee: The rupee closed at 71.80, down by 56 paise against the dollar on Monday.

6. Dollar: The US dollar strengthened across the board, as investors took heart from Friday's strong payrolls number. The dollar's index against six major currencies rose to 95.843, having gained 0.27 percent on Monday. The dollar firmed to 109.92 yen, having risen to 110.165 the previous day, its highest level in five weeks.

7. FIIs& DIIs: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 112 crore on net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) unloaded equities worth Rs 65 crore on February 4.

8. RBI Monetary Policy Meeting: The Reserve Bank may cut key lending rate by 0.25 percent later this week in view of benign inflation, said an SBI research report on Monday. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will start its three-day meet in Mumbai on Tuesday and announce the policy on February 7.

9. Start-ups And Angel Tax: The government has decided to form a small working group to look into the issue of angel tax being faced by startups and come out with a workable solution in 4-5 days, a top official said on Monday. The issue was discussed in a meeting convened by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT).

10. Fiscal Deficit: Fiscal deficit touched 112.4 percent of the full-year budget target of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of December on account of lower revenue collections, government data showed on Monday. The fiscal deficit, or gap between Government's expenditure and revenue, stood at Rs 7.01 lakh crore during April-December of the current financial year which ends in March.