10 things you need to know before the opening bell on January 7

SUMMARY

Indian shares look set to open higher Thursday tracking a positive momentum in the Asian peers. At 7:50 am, the SGX Nifty traded 76.50 points or 0.54 percent higher at 14,257.00, indicating a positive start for the Sensex and Nifty50.

By CNBC-TV18Jan 7, 2021 8:08:48 AM IST (Published)

1. US Stocks | The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 437.8 points higher, or 1.44 percent, to 30,829.4, the S&P 500 gained 21.28 points, or 0.57 percent, to 3,748.14 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 78.17 points, or 0.61 percent, to 12,740.79.

2. Asian Markets | Investors remained defiantly bullish in early Asian trade with S&P 500 futures up 0.3 percent, Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 1.24 percent and the S&P/ASX 200 1.25 percent higher.

3. Indian Market At Close | Benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty ended lower Wednesday dragged by selling in IT and FMCG stocks amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended 263.72 points or 0.54 percent lower at 48,174.06, while the Nifty declined 53.25 points or 0.38 percent to close at 14,146.25.

4. Crude Oil | Brent crude was up 8 cents at $54.38 a barrel, after gaining 1.3 percent overnight. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 11 cents to $50.74, having slipped earlier in the Asian session. The contract rose 1.4 percent on Wednesday.

5. Rupee | The Indian rupee registered 6 paise gains to close at 73.11 against the US dollar on Wednesday, in line with stronger Asian peers against the American currency.

6. Trump supporters storm US Capitol | Thousands of angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and clashed with police, resulting in casualty and multiple injuries and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under a lockdown.

7. US Federal Reserve | The Federal Reserve was nearly unanimous in its decision last month to leave its bond-buying program unchanged but left a wide berth for officials to decide in the future if and when changes should be made, according to minutes of the US central bank's December policy meeting.

8. RBI | The Reserve Bank said its College of Supervisors (CoS), which was functioning in a limited way in virtual mode since May 2020, is now being fully operationalised with full-time director supported by an Academic Advisory Council (AAC).

9. SEBI | Market regulator Sebi has suggested a liberalised framework in the landscape of MIIs (Market Infrastructure Institutions) by allowing higher shareholding at the inception stage and prescribing a dilution in the ownership over a period of time. New norms pertaining to tenure of MD and CEO of MIIs - stock exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations - have also been proposed.

10. USTR slams India on digital taxes | Digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy and Turkey discriminate against U.S. companies and are inconsistent with international tax principles, the US Trade Representative's office said on Wednesday, paving the way for potential retaliatory tariffs. USTR, releasing the findings of its "Section 301" investigations into the digital taxes, said it was not taking specific actions at this time, but "will continue to evaluate all available options."