10 things you need to know before the opening bell

SUMMARY

Indian stocks are set for a muted start to trading Tuesday as investors weighed the latest batch of headlines on global growth and trade, without any direction offered from American markets that were shut for a holiday Monday. At 07:04 AM, SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50's trend in India, inched 0.03 percent at 10,965.50, indicating a mildly positive start for the Indian market.

By CNBC-TV18Jan 22, 2019 7:34:08 AM IST (Updated)

1. Asia: MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent but was still within striking distance of a seven-week top touched the previous day. Japan's Nikkeigained 0.2 percent, helped by a recent pullback in the yen.

2. US: US stock futures, which offer an indication of how Wall Street will open, were down about 0.2 percent. US markets were closed on Monday so trading was generally subdued overnight.

3. Market At Close on Monday: Indian shares concluded the week's first trading session higher largely on the back of index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which contributed nearly 80 percent of Nifty's gains. The Nifty settled almost 55 points up or by half a percent, at 10,961.85, while the Sensex gained 192.35 points or 0.53 percent, to 36,578.96.

4. Rupee: The rupee closed at 71.28, down by 10 paise against the dollar on Monday.

5. Dollar: The dollarheld at 109.63 against the Japanese yen while the euro was near the floor of its recent trading range at $1.1375. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was flat at 96.336.

6. FIIs& DIIs: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 300 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 521 crore in the Indian equity market on January 21.

7. Gita Gopinath On Farm Loan Waivers: Populist measures such as farm loan waivers will not solve the problems faced by farmers permanently, but cash transfers are a better solution, said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath. "There is a tremendous amount of distress in the agricultural sector and I believe that farm loan waivers don't solve the problem on any kind of permanent basis. We certainly need to need to work with our farmers by giving them better technology, better seeds," Gopinath said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

8. IMF on India GDP: India is projected to grow at 7.5 percent in 2019 and 7.7 percent in 2020, an impressive over one percentage point ahead of China's estimated growth of 6.2 percent in these two years, the IMF said on Monday attributing the pick up to the lower oil prices and a slower pace of monetary tightening. The International Monetary Fund in its January World Economy Outlook update on Monday said India would remain among the fastest growing major economies of the world.

9. Davos 2019: As the world leaders began assembling for their annual pow-wow on the Swiss Alps, a gloomy outlook for the global economy weighed on the participants' mood but many asserted that it is still not time for a recession. Leaders from India felt the time is ripe for the country to present itself as a counter balance to China and continue on its growth path, irrespective of the outcome of elections due in next few months. While many Indian leaders have given the WEF Annual Meeting a miss this time, those present said the main questions they are facing from the world community relate to the elections and whether the Narendra Modi government would return to power.

10. PM Modi On Small Businesses: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is considering offering cheap loans and free accidental insurance coverage to millions of small businesses, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, as he tries to placate a key voter bloc ahead of a general election due by May.