10 things you need to know before the opening bell on February 13

SUMMARY

The Indian market is expected to open marginally lower on Thursday tracking Asian markets which traded cautiously as the new coronavirus cases at the outbreak's epicenter jumped sharply. At 7:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 11 points or 0.09 percent lower at 12,218, indicating a weak start for the Sensex and the Nifty50.

By CNBC-TV18Feb 13, 2020 8:10:05 AM IST (Updated)

1. Asia: Stocks in the Asia Pacific traded mixed on Thursday morning as a spike in the number of new coronavirus cases in China’s Hubei province was reported. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.13 percent while the Topix index was 0.37 percent lower. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi added 0.59 percent. Shares in Australia were also higher in morning trade, up 0.21 percent. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was largely flat.

2. US: Wall Street closed at record highs on Wednesday as news that the coronavirus outbreak could be running out of steam kept buyers in the ring. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 274.46 points, or 0.94 percent, to 29,550.8, the S&P 500 gained 21.63 points, or 0.64 percent, to 3,379.38 and the Nasdaq Composite added 87.02 points, or 0.9 percent, to 9,725.96.

3. Market At Close On Wednesday: Indian shares ended higher on Wednesday, tracking gains in Asian markets, on hopes that the worst of the coronavirus epidemic in China may have passed. The BSE Sensex ended 350 points higher at 41,566, while the Nifty50 index settled 93 points higher at 12,201. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought Rs 49 crore in the cash market while the domestic institutional investors bought Rs 339 crore.

4. Crude Oil: Oil jumped more than 3% at the high on Wednesday as traders eyed deeper production cuts from OPEC, and as China reported the lowest number of new coronavirus cases since the end of January, easing concerns about a drop-off in demand for oil. On Wednesday U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.46 percent, or $1.23, to settle at $51.17 per barrel, its best day since January3. Brent crude rallied 3.3 percent, or $1.78, to settle at $55.79 per barrel.

5. Rupee Close: The rupee ended 5 paise lower at 71.33 against the US dollar on Wednesday as the forex market turned cautious ahead of the key macro data release. Besides, higher crude oil prices and strengthening of the American dollar against key currencies also put pressure on the domestic unit. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 71.24 per dollar. During the day, it swung between a high of 71.21 and a low of 71.40. The domestic unit finally settled at 71.33, down 5 paise over its previous close.

6. January Retail Inflation At 7.59%: Retail inflation inched up to 7.59 percent in January to hit a six-year high on costlier food items, showed government data on Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation was 7.35 percent in December 2019 and 1.97 percent in January last year. While, the industrial output contracted by 0.3 percent in December, weighed by a decline in the manufacturing sector, government data showed. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had grown by 2.5 percent in December 2018.

7. Government To Infuse In 3 PSUs: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle approval to pump in Rs 2,500-crore capital into three public sector general insurance companies. These three insurers are Oriental Insurance Company Limited (OICL), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and United India Insurance Company Limited (UIICL). The Cabinet has allowed "immediate release of Rs 2,500 crore in the light of the critical financial position and breach of regulatory solvency requirements" of these general insurers", an official statement said. The capital infusion in these companies comes ahead of their proposed merger by the end of March 2020.

8. SEBI Plans Changes In Informant Mechanism: Capital market regulator Sebi is planning to effect changes in its organizational set-up for faster delivery of a new mechanism or rewarding whistleblowers and other informants for sharing useful information about insider trading cases. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) recently amended its regulations for the prevention of insider trading by inserting a new informant policy, under which the informants can be rewarded, including with monetary awards, if their leads result in significant disgorgement of money and the information shared by them is useful in the probe. Sebi has also set up an Office of Informant Protection for this purpose, as under the new framework it is mandatory to disclose the source of information, but confidentiality regarding the identity of the informant would be fully protected.

9. TRAI Defends Spectrum Pricing: Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday strongly defended its recommendations on the pricing of spectrum, including 5G airwaves, saying its views had been finalized based on industry feedback, and it is for the individual stakeholders to decide whether to participate in the auction or not. Trai's views assume significance as Bharti Airtel, earlier this month, made it clear that it will not buy 5G spectrum in the upcoming auction if its base price is fixed at Rs 492 crore per megahertz as recommended by the telecom regulator.

10. IT Leaders On The Industry's Transformation: The USD 191 billion Indian IT industry has shifted to being a change originator from being in a "catch-up" mode for the initial few decades of its journey, top tech industry leaders said on Wednesday. The change has seen Indian companies getting into product spaces with platforms like TCS' BaNCS, which was till now the stronghold of tech majors from the developed world, they said.

"Biggest shift has been that we were on the catch-up mode. Last few years, we are the originators, it's a change," the chief executive of the country's largest software exporter TCS, Rajesh Gopinathan, said at the annual Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum (NTLF) here.