Ten things to know before opening bell on February 11

SUMMARY

The Indian market is likely to open lower on Thursday as the trend on SGX Nifty indicates a negative start for the broader index in India amid weak global cues. The Nifty futures were trading 69.00 points or 0.46 percent lower at the 15,069.00 level on the Singaporean Exchange at 7:15 am.

By CNBCTV18.comFeb 11, 2021 7:54:19 AM IST (Published)

1. Wall Street: The S&P 500 was down slightly in volatile trading while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was barely higher on Wednesday, pausing after recent gains, while the dollar dropped to two-week lows. Major U.S. stock indexes hit record highs at the opening before losing gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.56 points, or 0 percent, to 31,377.39, the S&P 500 lost 5.69 points, or 0.15 percent, to 3,905.54 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 56.23 points, or 0.4 percent, to 13,951.47.

2. Asian stocks: Markets in Japan, China, and South Korea were closed on Thursday. And the shares in Australia were muted in the morning trade, as S&P/ASX 200 hovered above the flatline.

3. Dalal Street: Indian shares ended flat on Wednesday as gains in heavyweight RIL, TCS and HDFC capped losses in banking stocks. TheSensex ended 19 points lowerat 51,309 while the Nifty fell 3 points higher to settle at 15,106. Meanwhile, the broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the midcap and smallcap up 0.7 each.

4. Oil: Oil rose on Wednesday, extending its rally for a ninth day, its longest winning streak in two years, supported by producer supply cuts and hopes vaccine rollouts will drive a recovery in demand. Brent crude was up 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $61.39 by 1654 GMT after touching a 13-month high of $61.61 earlier in the session. US crude was up 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $58.57, having touched $58.76, also a 13-month high.

5. Rupee: The rupee firmed up by 3 paise to settle at 72.84 against the US dollar on Wednesday in a restricted trade amid muted trend in the domestic equity market. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 72.87 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 72.81 and a low of 72.88. It finally ended at 72.84 against the American currency, registering a rise of just 3 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee had finished at 72.87 against the American currency.

6. Gold: Gold prices fell marginally by Rs 38 to Rs 47,576 per 10 grams in the national capital on Wednesday as rupee appreciation capped the price of the precious metal, according to HDFC Securities. The yellow metal had closed at Rs 47,614 per 10 grams in the previous trade. In tandem, silver prices tumbled Rs 783 to Rs 68,884 per kg on Wednesday, compared to its previous close of Rs 69,667.

7. Bitcoin: In more volatile cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin soared to a new high, on its way toward another milestone: $50,000. It has surged more than 1,000% since March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, and analysts said forecasts of bitcoin hitting $100,000 this year don't seem far-fetched. The gains follow disclosures from Tesla Monday that it had invested around $1.5 billion in the virtual currency and expects to accept it as payment for its cars in the future.

8. COVID-19: A study in England has revealed additional symptoms linked with having COVID could include chills, loss of appetite, headache and muscle ache. The Imperial College London led Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) study revealed on Wednesday that in addition to the known symptoms of loss of sense of smell and taste, fever and new persistent cough, around 60 percent of infected people did not report any symptoms in the week leading up to their test.

9. Twitter-govt conversation: The government on Wednesday expressed "strong displeasure" over Twitter's delay in taking prompt action against accounts and hashtags spreading misinformation and provocative content around the farmers' stir, as the IT Ministry made it clear that the company must comply with the country's laws irrespective of the platform's own rules.

10. SEBI: In the high profile co-location matter, markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for failing to ensure a level-playing field for trading members subscribing to its tick-by-tick (TBT) data feed system. In addition, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 25 lakh each on NSE's former managing directors and chief executive officers Chitra Ramakrishna and Ravi Narain, according to a Sebi order.