Market Ahead, February 16: Top factors that could guide markets today

Global shares held firm on Tuesday, with a solid foundation in place to extend their bull run to a 12th consecutive session as optimism about the global economic recovery and expectations of low interest rates drove investments into riskier assets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1% while Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.4% to a 30-year high. S&P500 futures traded 0.5% higher to a record level.

The mainland Chinese markets will remain closed for Lunar New Year through Wednesday while Wall Street was also closed on Monday.

In the oil markets, prices soared to a 13-month high as a deep freeze due to a severe snow storm in the United States not only boosted power demand but also threatened oil production in Texas.

U.S. crude futures traded up 1.1% at $60.11 per barrel while Brent crude futures were up 0.21% at $63.43 per barrel.

Amid a mixed set of cues, Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded only 8 points higher at 15,348 around 7.25 am, indicating a flat-to-positive start for benchmark indices back home. Both Sensex and Nifty had added 1 per cent in Monday's session with the 30-pack Sensex closing above 52,000 mark for the first time.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to address the post-Budget meeting of the RBI's central board on Tuesday and highlight key points of Union Budget 2021-22, including the fiscal consolidation roadmap.

Now, a look at the stock-specific developments that are likely to sway the market today:

Nestle India, Varun Beverages, R Systems International, Schaeffler India, Advent Computer Services and GM Polyplast will announce their quarterly earnings today.

A continued increase in in-home consumption and demand for packaged food along with festive season is likely to have driven the growth for FMCG firm Nestle India during the December 2020 quarter, according to analysts, who see a nearly 10-13 per cent growth in revenue on a yearly basis.

According to a report by Reuters,  the government has shortlisted Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and the Central Bank of India for privatisation.

Poly Medicure opened its QIP for subscription on February 15 and fixed the floor price at Rs 550.79 per share.

SIS approved the proposal of buyback of upto Rs 99.99 crore worth of equity shares, at a price of Rs 550 per share.

Jet Airways, which has been grounded for nearly two years, on Monday reported a standalone loss of Rs 2,841.45 crore for the year ended March 2020. During the 2019-20 financial year, the airline had a total income of Rs 354.2 crore.

Wipro and Tech Mahindra have signed agreements with Telefónica Germany/O2 for transforming the telecommunications provider's business support systems and IT systems.

In an update on the primary market, the three-day IPO of the state-owned RailTel Corporation of India will open for subscription today. The price band has been fixed at Rs 93-94 a share for the initial share sale. Most analysts sound bullish on the issue and have assigned a Subscribe rating.

Lastly, Neureca's Rs 100 crore IPO that opened for subscription on Monday sailed through on Day 1 itself. The IPO garnered 5.73 times subscription on the first day.