10 things you need to know before the opening bell on July 1

SUMMARY

The Indian market is likely to open lower on Wednesday following a mixed trend in Asian peers. At 8:00 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 23.50 points or 0.23 percent lower at 10,235.00, indicating a negative start for the Sensex and Nifty50.

By CNBCTV18.comJul 1, 2020 8:37:18 AM IST (Published)

1. Asia: Stocks in Asia Pacific mostly edged higher in Wednesday morning trade as a private survey showed China’s factory activity for June was better than expected. Shares in South Korea led gains regionally, with the Kospi up 1.02 percent in morning trade.

Mainland Chinese stocks were higher in early trade, with the Shanghai composite up 0.31 percent while the Shenzhen component added 0.505. percent. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 in Japan hovered above the flatline while the Topix index slipped 0.28 percent. Over in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.89 percent higher. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.45 percent.

2. US: Stock futures dipped in overnight trading on Tuesday as the market is set to kick off a new quarter after a remarkable comeback. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded about 50 points lower. The S&P 500 futures and the Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. Trading volumes were thin. On Tuesday, the market just notched its best quarter in decades as it snapped back from the historic sell-off triggered by the coronavirus. The Dow gained 17.8% in the second quarter, posting its best quarter since 1987, while the S&P 500 finished the period with a near 20% gain, its best since 1998.

3. Market At Close On Tuesday: The Indian market pared all morning gains to end lower on Tuesday dragged by the pharma and banking names. Investors also remained cautious ahead of Prime Minister's address to the nation. At close, the Sensex ended 45.72 points and 0.13 percent lower to 34,915.80 while the Nifty50 ended 10.30 points and 0.10 percent lower to 10,302.10. Broader markets underperformed the benchmarks, with Nifty Midcap 100 index and Nifty Smallcap 100 index down 0.20 percent and 0.58 percent respectively.

4. Crude Oil: Oil prices slipped on Tuesday amid rising COVID-19 cases and a possible return of Libyan oil production, which has slowed to a trickle since the start of the year. The more-active September contract for Brent fell 0.3 percent to $41.70 a barrel, paring Monday’s 92-cent gain. The August contract, which expires on Tuesday, fell 51 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $41.20. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. oil benchmark, slid 1.08 percent, or 43 cents, to settle at $39.27 per barrel.

5. Rupee Close: The rupee on Tuesday settled 7 paise higher at 75.51 (provisional) against the US dollar tracking gains in the domestic equity market. Forex traders said rupee traded in a narrow range as positive domestic equities supported the local unit, while foreign fund outflows and concerns over rising COVID-19 cases weighed on investor sentiment. The rupee opened strong at 75.48 and settled for the day at 75.51 against the US dollar, up 7 paise over its previous close.

6. Weak Trend Continues In GST Collections: In what looks like a matter of concern for the government, the revenue outlook remains to be weak with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection continuing its downtrend. The GST collection during the period April 1-June 25 stood as low as Rs 1,56,846 crore, sources told CNBC-TV18. Out of this, Rs 1.13 lakh crore was yielded from domestic supplies. Rs 11,833 crore has been collected as compensation cess, said the sources, who did not want to be named. While Rs 27,900 crore (approx) was collected under Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), Rs 34,600 crore was collected under State Goods and Service Tax (SGST). (Representational Image)

7. Restrictions On Chinese Import Clearance Likely To Be Lifted Soon: The government is taking cognizance of industry representations and assuring them of faster clearances of Chinese imports stuck at various ports across India, according to sources. Government sources told CNBCTV18 that the clearance of the stuck consignments will be post-proper checks and 100 percent inspections. “But only post proper checks and 100 percent inspections,” they said. “The consignments are likely to start moving as early as midnight tonight but the authorities will first clear all essentials category consignments such as Pharmaceutical Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (APIs), Key Starting Raw Materials (KSM’s) and intermediates and a few electronic and mobile equipment,” the sources added.

8. India's Fiscal Deficit Hits 59% Of Total Budget Target: The government has reported that the fiscal deficit for the period of April-May, 2020 stands at Rs 4.66 lakh crore which is 58.6 percent of the Rs 7.96 lakh crore total budget aim. The data released by the government also shows that the April-May revenue deficit stands at Rs 4.12 lakh crore versus Rs 3.21 lakh crore in the year-ago period. In the same period, the government's spending did not change much when compared to the year before period. The reading is at Rs 5.12 lakh crore versus Rs 5.13 lakh crore.

9. Indian Bond Yields Fall To Over One-Week Low: India's benchmark 10-year bond yield dropped to its lowest level in over a week on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of India announced a special open market operation to simultaneously buy and sell debt on July 2. The yield dropped to a low of 5.86 percent, its lowest level since June 22 and down 4 basis points versus its close on Monday. The RBI said on Monday it will buy up to 100 billion rupees (USD 1.32 billion) worth of papers in the 9-13 year tenor from the market on July 2, while also selling 6- and 12-month treasury bills of the same value. (Representational Image)

10. UN Agency On Job Cuts: The coronavirus pandemic is expected to have resulted in a 14% drop in global working hours in the second quarter of 2020, the International Labour Organization has said. The United Nations’ labor agency said this updated fall in working hours was the equivalent of 400 million full-time job losses globally in the second quarter, based on a standard 48-hour working week. This marked a “sharp increase” on the 10.7% fall in working hours, or 305 million job losses, that the ILO forecasted for that period, in its previous report on the impact of Covid-19 on the labor market, published in May.