Global markets are flat to lower this morning. On Wall Street, the main US stock indexes lost momentum in overnight trade as investors digested a report that an experimental antiviral drug for the coronavirus flopped in its first randomized clinical trial. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.17 per cent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended slightly in the red.
Asia equities were largely lower early Friday. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were both down over 1 per cent each while Australia’s ASX 200 was up half a per cent. The SGX Nifty was down nearly 120 points at 7 AM, so the Indian markets might open open gap-down today.
In commodities, Brent rose 4.7 per cent to settle at $21.33 a barrel.
A major event investors will track today will be the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to finalise a second stimulus package. According to reports, the upcoming package will again be aimed at the urban and rural poor; other disadvantaged sections of society; MSMEs; and some of the worst-affected sectors.
A separate report says the government has decided to suspend insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings for at least six months owing to challenges businesses are facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In another major news, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund yesterday decided to wind up six of its debt schemes oriented towards high-yield investments citing continued redemption pressure and lack of liquidity in the debt markets.
Meanwhile, India's tally of coronavirus cases moved up to 23,039 and 721 deaths. Globally, over 27 lakh people have so far been infected, according to Worldometer.
The Confederation of Indian Industry has painted a grim picture for the Indian economy's future due to the pandemic and said that India's GDP growth will remain between -0.9 per cent and 1.5 per cent in FY21.
In corporate results, Bharti Infratel yesterday posted a 6.89 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 649.50 crore for the Q4 while consolidated revenue came in at Rs 3,624 crore.
Today, Mindtree is slated to announce its March quarter results. The company is expected to take a hit on most of its verticals due to disruptions caused by Covid-19 with higher impact on the company's Travel and Hospitality vertical due to travel bans and restrictions.
Yesterday, market regulator, Sebi, eased the 12-month cooling-off period that companies have to observe between buybacks and equity fundraising. It also eased valuation norms for the mutual fund industry, allowing valuation agencies to make exceptions if there is a default by a corporate bond issuer because of the lockdown.
And the last bit of news is that the Bharat 22 ETF scheme has been rebalanced in accordance with its underlying index and will be effective from April 27. According to reports, Axis Bank, NALCO and BEL would benefit the most from the move while SBI, GAIL and Powergrid Corporation could witness the maximum outflows.
Read by: Kanishka Gupta
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