Market Ahead, December 4: All you need to know before the opening bell

Let's start with the global markets. Wall Street stocks were mixed overnight, with the Nasdaq closing at a record high, while the S&P 500 fell after a report that Pfizer Inc had slashed the target for the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine. The Dow rose 0.29 per cent.

Trend in Asia early Friday were mixed as well. Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.3 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4 per cent. Hong Kong's main index was flat.

In commodities, OPEC and Russia on Thursday agreed to a modest oil output increase from January by 500,000 barrels per day. The increase means the OPEC+, would move to cutting production by 7.2 million barrel per day of global demand from January.

Meanwhile, the SGX Nifty was trading 30-odd points higher at 13,240 levels, indicating a positive start for the Indian markets.

Back home, the major focus today will be the announcement by the monetary policy committee of the RBI. The six-member MPC is forecast to hold the benchmark repurchase rate at 4 per cent today, according to all 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Market participants would watch out for any revision in the GDP growth targets for FY21 and inflation targets.

In any case, rate-sensitive stocks and sectors will remain in focus at the bourses today.

Meanwhile, India's economy, severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, is gradually recovering on the back of fiscal, monetary, and financial sector measures announced to date, the IMF has said.

Aviation stocks might gain in trade today after the cap on the number of domestic flights that Indian airlines are permitted to operate was increased from 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their pre-COVID levels on Thursday.

Also, Fitch Ratings yesterday affirmed BBB- ratings on four public sector banks –-SBI, PNB, Bank of Baroda, and National Bank. The rating agency has maintained negative outlook on ratings after factoring in the impact of the escalating coronavirus pandemic on India's economy.

Besides these, telecom stocks might trade actively today after Trai announced the latest subscription figures. Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer in terms of users in September with 3.8 million subscriber additions, Reliance Jio added 1.5 million users while Vodafone Idea continued losing subscribers.

In the primary market, Burger King India’s IPO was subscribed 9.4 times on Thursday, the penultimate day of the issue. The retail investor portion of the IPO was subscribed 37.8 times; the wealthy investor and institutional investor portions were subscribed 3.6 times and 2.7 times, respectively.