10 things you need to know before the opening bell on February 4

SUMMARY

The Indian market is likely to open on a flat note amid mixed global cues. At 7:30 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 6.00 points or 0.04 percent lower at 14,822.50, indicating a subdued start for the Sensex and Nifty50.

By CNBCTV18.comFeb 4, 2021 7:44:44 AM IST (Published)

1. Wall Street: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq treaded water in choppy trading on Wednesday after two days of sharp gains while Alphabet Inc's shares headed for their best day in nine months following its strong quarterly results. At 11:25 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 gained 3.90 points, or 0.10 percent, to 3,830.21 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 13.60 points, or 0.10 percent, to 13,626.37.

2. Asian stocks: Shares in Asia-Pacific dipped in Thursday morning trade following another positive session overnight for the S&P 500 stateside. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 shed 0.64 percent while the Topix index slipped 0.18 percent. South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.13 percent. Stocks in Australia slid as the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.72 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares traded 0.22 percent lower.

3. Dalal Street: Indian indices ended at record close on Wednesday, extending gains for the third straight session led by gains in banking, metal and pharma indices. Meanwhile, Asian shares and US stock futures also rose as governments around the world looked poised to boost spending to help economies recover from the coronavirus and vaccine roll-out programs accelerated. The Sensex ended 458 points higher at a new closing high of 50,256 while the Nifty rose 142 points to its record close of 14,790.

4. Rupee: The Indian rupee ended just 1 paisa higher at 72.95 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid a firm trend in the domestic equity markets. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 72.96 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 72.92 and a low of 72.98. It finally ended at 72.95 against the American currency, registering a rise of just 1 paisa over its previous close. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.03 per cent to 91.17.

5. Oil: Oil prices rose more than 2 percent to near their highest levels in about a year on Wednesday, after government data showed US crude stockpiles fell to their lowest since March, while OPEC+ maintained its supply cut agreement. Brent crude futures rose $1.37, or 2.4 percent, to $58.83 a barrel by 11:05 a.m. EST, their highest since last February. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.45, or 2.7 percent, to $56.21 a barrel, their highest since January 2020.

6. Gold: Gold in the national capital on Wednesday declined by Rs 232 to Rs 47,387 per 10 gram amid the decline in global precious metal prices, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 47,619 per 10 gram. Silver also dipped Rs 1,955 to Rs 67,605 per kilogram from Rs 69,560 per kilogram in the previous trade. In the international market, gold was quoting lower at USD 1,835 per ounce and silver was flat at USD 26.78 per ounce.

7. SEBI: Market regulator Sebi on Wednesday barred Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani from accessing securities market for a period of one year for indulging in insider trading in the shares of the company. Apart from Kishore Biyani, who was the CMD and promoter of Future Retail Ltd (FRL), others facing ban are Future Corporate Resources Pvt Ltd, Anil Biyani and FCRL Employee Welfare Trust.

8. COVID-19: The Centre on Wednesday placed a second purchase order with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of one crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Covishield', each costing Rs 210, including GST. The government had on January 11 placed an order for 1.1 crore doses of Covishield at a cost of Rs 231 crore, which has now risen to Rs 441 crore with the second-order placed on Wednesday, a source said. The government had on January 11 also committed to buying from the Serum Institute 4.5 crore doses of the vaccine, in addition to the first order of 1.1 crore doses.

9. RBI MPC Meet: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank is widely expected to keep repo rates on hold at 4 percent, a CNBC-TV18 poll showed. All 10 economists polled by CNBC-TV18 said they do not expect any rate cut or hike in the February 5 policy as the central bank is expected to remain in a watchful mode. The policy assumes more significance as it is coming days after the Union Budget, which announced a much higher than expected fiscal deficit target and market borrowing programme, as the government looks to push economic growth.

10. Democracy Index: In the 2020 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit's annual Democracy Index, which provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide, India's score fell from a peak of 7.92 (on a scale of 0-10) in 2014 to 6.61 in 2020. India's rank slipped two places to 53 in the 2020 Democracy Index's global ranking. The country was ranked 51 in the 2019 Democracy Index. The EIU said the "democratic backsliding" authorities and "crackdowns" on civil liberties has led to a further decline in India’s ranking.