Investors will today track corporate earnings and coronavirus-related newsflow. The two-day US Fed meeting which starts today will be on investors' radar.
Let's look at the global cues for today which are largely benign. Wall Street gained more than 1 per cent overnight at the onset of a hectic earnings week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 gained 1.5 per cent each and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.1 per cent.
Asian stocks were mixed in Tuesday's early deals. Japan's Nikkei was down 0.4 per cent while Australian ASX 200 was up 0.2 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 0.2 per cent. The Indian indices may open with a gap-up today with the SGX Nifty up 100 points from the Nifty future's previous close.
In commodities, oil plunged again on Monday on continued concerns about oversupply and a lack of storage space. US WTI futures fell 24.6 per cent to settle at $12.78 a barrel while Brent crude slid 6.8 per cent to settle at $19.99 a barrel.
In corporate results, IndusInd Bank yesterday reported a mixed performance in its Q4 wherein the bank's top line beat the Street’s expectations while the bottom line fell way short of estimates. The bank’s net profit fell 16 per cent YoY to Rs 301.8 crore.
Axis Bank is scheduled to announce its March quarter results today. According to analysts, double digit loan growth and high credit cost is likely to cushion against the likely increase in stressed assets due to the Covid-19 outbreak although this could impact the bank's net profit for the quarter.
Meanwhile, India's total count of Covid-19 cases has reached 29,451 and the death toll currently stands at 939, according to Worldometer data. With cases continually rising, the nationwide lockdown may be extended beyond May 3, as many states told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video-conference meeting on Monday that it’s not the time yet to lift the curbs. Globally, over 30 lakh people have been infected by corona and 211,433 have died from the disease.
Yesterday, rating agency CRISIL cut its projections for India’s economic growth rate to 1.8 per cent, from 3.5 per cent it had earlier predicted for FY21.
According to a Business Standard report, the Centre is considering a proposal to guarantee Rs 3 trillion of loans to small businesses as part of a plan to restart economy.
Market regulator Sebi has announced a sharp cut in the fees it levies on market activity, such as trading and filing of offer documents to boost market activity, which has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reliance Industries will be in focus today after the company said its board would consider a proposal to issue equity shares to existing shareholders on a rights basis, during its board meeting on Thursday.
Read by: Kanishka Gupta
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