SGX Nifty down 40 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Domestic equity market may see a muted start on Wednesday, as suggested by Nifty futures trading in Singapore Exchange. Asian peers are largely positive in early trade despite an overnight fall in US stocks. Back home, falling Covid cases are giving comfort to domestic investors, but technical charts are suggesting indecisiveness among traders at higher levels. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS
SGX Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange traded 43.5 points, or 0.29 per cent, lower at 15,206 signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Wednesday.

• Tech View: Analysts said that the 15,300 level may continue to remain key resistance for Nifty50, breaching which the NSE barometer can hit fresh record highs.
• India VIX: The fear gauge lost 1.5 per cent from 19.13 to 18.84 level on Tuesday, over its Monday's close.

Asian stocks rise at open
Asian share markets opened higher on Wednesday, shunning Wall Street jitters after the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed a dovish monetary policy stance that eased inflation concerns. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.24 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei advances 0.28%
• South Korea's Kospi gains 0.33%
• Australia's ASX 200 inches up 0.14%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng rises 0.55%
• China's Shanghai Composite adds 0.27%

Wall Street stocks settled lower
Fears about the state of the US economic recovery turned Wall Street negative at the close Tuesday, reversing gains made in early trading.

• Dow Jones drops 0.24% to 34,312.46.
• The S&P500 index lost 0.21% to 4,188.13.
• Nasdaq Composite fell 0.03% to 13,657.17.

Dollar at multi-month low
The dollar wallowed near its weakest since early January against major peers on Wednesday, as Treasury yields eased amid Federal Reserve insistence that stimulus will continue despite current inflationary pressures.

• Dollar index languishes at 89.663 level
• Euro edges higher to trade at $1.2250
• British pound's rise stalls below $1.42
• Japanese yen trades at 108.75 to the dollar
• Chinese yuan at 6.3925 against the greenback

Crude oil steady in early trade
Oil prices were steady as concerns a possible resumption in Iranian supply would cause a glut was offset by hopes for stronger US fuel demand. Brent crude oil futures for July gained 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $68.70 a barrel by 0102 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July was at $66.05 a barrel, down 2 cents.

Q4 earnings today
BPCL, Berger Paints (India), Pfizer, Cummins India, Manappuram Finance, KIOCL, V-Guard Industries, FDC, Burger King India, Hindustan Foods, Karur Vysya Bank, Sharda Cropchem, LT foods, and Karnataka Bank are among companies that will announce their March quarter results today.

FPIs buy equities worth Rs 960 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 959.77 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs, turned sellers to the tune of Rs 563.59 crore, data suggests.


MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee strengthened by 19 paise to end at 72.77 against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking weakness in the American currency in the overseas market.

10-year bond: India's 10-year bond yield was unchanged to 5.97 after trading in 5.97 -5.99 range.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 3.21 per cent, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 1.90-3.50 per cent.

DATA/EVENTS TO WATCH

• Q4 Earnings: Arvind | Berger Paint | BPCL | Cummins | Pfizer |
• Japan BoJ Suzuki Speech (07:00 am)
• Japan Coincident Index Final March (10:30 am)
• Japan Leading Economic Index Final March (10:30 am)
• US EIA Crude Oil Stocks Change 21/May (08:00 pm)
• Russia GDP YoY April (11:30 pm)

MACROS
Covid 2.0 hit on economy to be hard
India could be staring at a bigger economic toll due to the severe second wave of the pandemic than initially estimated, following stringent lockdowns imposed by states, according to research reports released on Tuesday. Slow vaccinations and the uneven easing of curbs by states will likely weigh on recovery. “Even as India’s second Covid-19 wave starts to recede, the underlying economic toll now appears larger than we expected,” Barclays said in a report.

Fed is talking about talking about tapering
Policymakers at the US Fed have begun to acknowledge they are closer to debating when to pull back some of their crisis support for the US economy, even as they say it is still needed to bolster the recovery and employment. “We are talking about talking about tapering,” San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly told CNBC on Tuesday, referring to the potential reduction of the Fed’s $120 billion in monthly asset purchases.

Who will benefit most from Unlock 2.0
Market participants are betting on stocks that are likely to benefit from the unlocking of movement restrictions across states as Covid cases come down. Reports suggest Maharashtra, a key state which houses the financial capital Mumbai, may start lifting restrictions in a phased manner. Besides aviation, hotels and multiplexes, city gas distributors and liquor makers are also being seen as beneficiaries of the lifting of restrictions.

Fuel prices go through the roof
State oil companies raised fuel prices for the 13th time this month, sending petrol prices in Mumbai to almost Rs 100 per litre on Tuesday. Petrol prices rose by 23 paise on Tuesday to Rs 99.71 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 93.44 in Delhi, a new record. Diesel prices too set a fresh record after rising 25 paise a litre on Tuesday. Diesel now costs Rs 91.57 in Mumbai and Rs 84.32 in Delhi.

Crypto exchanges are in a soup
Investors are intensifying pressure on Indian cryptocurrency exchanges as the regulatory environment in the country has become unpredictable and fraught with risk, said four people with knowledge of the matter. Some are asking exchanges for higher stakes as milestones haven’t been met. Others are frustrated at their inability to exit because ongoing deals have been put on hold after banks and Paytm refused to allow cryptocurrency transactions on their platforms.

Pharmeasy plans Rs 3,700 cr IPO
API Holdings, the parent entity of online pharmacy chain Pharmeasy, has begun exploratory talks for a potential public market listing, aiming to raise around Rs 3,000 - 3,700 crore ($400-$500 million), ET reported. The share sale proposal, which comes amid increased investor interest in the pharma sector and ecommerce space following the Covid-19 pandemic, will include both a primary as well as a secondary component, where some early backers will partially exit.