The Indian market may open flat with a positive bias on Monday following mixed cues from Asian peers. The SGX Nifty was trading 0.18 percent or 29.00 points higher at the 15,900.00, at 7:45 am. Here are the 10 key things to know before the market opens:
1. Wall Street | US stocks notched broad gains on Friday, with the S&P 500 index closing at a record and global shares also finished at an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.69 percent to end at 34,433.84 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.33 percent, or 14.21 points, to 4,280.70. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.06 percent, or 9.32 points, to 14,360.39, after holding near the previous session’s record high.
2. Asian markets | Asian shares got the week off to a cautious start on Monday, with Chinese markets holding steady, as a spike in coronavirus cases across the region over the weekend hurt investor sentiment while oil hovered around 2-1/2 year highs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was last a shade weaker at 702.57. Australian shares slipped 0.2 percent. South Korea's benchmark KOSPI was barely changed as was Japan’s Nikkei.
3. Indian market on Friday | The Indian equity benchmark indices ended higher on Friday led by across-the-board gains amid positive global cues. The Sensex gained 226.04 points, or 0.43 percent to 52,925.04, while the Nifty ended 69.90 points, or 0.44 percent higher at 15,860.35. Broader markets, smallcap and midcap indices outperformed the benchmarks. Barring Nifty FMCG, all the sectoral indices ended in the green led by metals, PSU Banks, pharma and auto indices.
4. Crude oil | Oil prices climbed to highs last seen in October 2018 on Monday as the United States and Iran wrangled over the revival of a nuclear deal, delaying a surge in Iranian oil exports, while investors eyed the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting this week. Brent crude for August had gained 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $76.40 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude for August was at $74.30 a barrel, up 25 cents, or 0.3 percent.
5. Rupee | The rupee weakened by 2 paise to end at 74.20 against the US dollar on Friday as higher crude oil prices weighed on forex market sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 74.15 per dollar as against its previous close of 74.18. It hovered in the range of 74.14 to 74.25 during the day before ending at 74.20 against the greenback
6. Indian economy may grow 8.4-10.1% in current financial year: NCAER | Economic think-tank NCAER expects the Indian economy to grow 8.4-10.1 percent for the current financial year as against a contraction of 7.3 percent in the last fiscal. Releasing its quarterly review of the economy, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has pitched for strong fiscal support to push economic growth. “We estimate that gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 11.5 per cent in Q1 (first quarter) and 8.4-10.1 per cent for the whole year 2021-22.”
7. RBI prescribes qualifications for MDs, WTDs of urban cooperative banks | The Reserve Bank on Friday prescribed educational qualifications and 'fit and proper' criteria for managing directors (MDs) and whole-time directors (WTDs) of primary urban cooperative banks and barred MPs and MLAs from these posts. Issuing the guidelines for the appointment of MDs and WTDs, the RBI said MPs, MLAs and representatives of municipal corporations will not be eligible to hold such positions in the primary urban cooperative banks (UCBs).
8. AIFs can invest in securities of investee cos, units of other AIFs: Sebi | Markets regulator Sebi came out with a framework for alternative investment funds (AIFs) to invest simultaneously in units of other AIFs and directly in securities of investee companies. Under the framework, existing AIFs may also invest simultaneously in securities of investee companies and in units of other AIFs, Sebi said in a circular. This is subject to appropriate disclosures in the private placement memorandum (PPM) and with the consent of at least two-thirds of unit holders by value of their investment, it added.
9. FPIs turn net buyers in June; invest Rs 12,714 crore in Indian markets | After remaining net sellers for two months in a row, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in June turned net buyers by pumping in a net Rs 12,714 crore into Indian markets. Prior to this, overseas investors had pulled out Rs 2,666 crore in May and Rs 9,435 crore in April. According to depositories data, FPIs invested Rs 15,282 crore in equities between June 1 and 25. At the same time, FPIs withdrew Rs 2,568 crore from the debt segment.
10. Gold imports jump multi-fold to USD 6.91 bn in Apr-May | Gold imports, which have a bearing on the current account deficit, zoomed to USD 6.91 billion (Rs 51,438.82 crore) during April-May 2021 due to low base effect in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Commerce Ministry. Imports of the yellow metal had plunged to USD 79.14 million (Rs 599 crore) in the corresponding period last year, the data showed. Silver imports, however, dipped by 93.7 per cent to USD 27.56 million.