The Indian markets are set to open in the green today, as indicated by the SGX Nifty which was trading 70 points up at 10,320 levels at 7 AM. This comes on the back of an overnight rally in the Wall Street where stocks closed higher as the sentiment boost from upbeat US housing data outweighed the threat of rising Covid-19 infections. The Dow Jones rose 2.3 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.47 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.2 per cent.
Asian markets followed Wall Street’s firm lead. Australian ASX 200 index rose 1.6 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.8 per cent.
In oil markets, Brent crude contracts rose 1.68 per cent to $41.71 a barrel.
The Indian government yesterday banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, UC Browser and others amid rising tensions between India and China after the Galwan Valley clashes. The govt said it has received credible inputs of Chinese apps posing a threat to sovereignity of India.
Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese militaries will hold the third round of talks today in an attempt to de-escalate tension in eastern Ladakh.
Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 PM today. He is also likely to speak on the 'unlock 2' phase announced yesterday which will come into effect from July 1. The government issued the guidelines yesterday in which it further eased the restrictions imposed due to the lockdown. Domestic flights and train services, already allowed, would be further expanded in a calibrated manner while night curfew has also been relaxed.
Investors will hence keenly monitor all these developments today for market direction.
Meanwhile, India once again recorded over 19,000 cases in 24 hours, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases to 5.67 lakh. The death toll in the country due to the virus now stands at 16,904. Bharat Biotech’s Covid vaccine candidate Covaxin is set to undergo human clinical trials in July after getting the green light from the Drug Controller General of India.
On the results front, Tata Steel reported a consolidated loss of Rs 3,406 crore in the March quarter, on the back of weak revenue and a slew of exceptional items, which further dented earnings of the company.
A total of 596 companies including Vodafone Idea, ONGC, and Sail are scheduled to announce their March quarter earnings today.
And, now, some other top news.
Sources tell Business Standard that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has begun stepping up activity opposite Arunachal Pradesh as well. The PLA troops are reinforcing their posts in large numbers, increasing their patrolling, and stepping up violations of the Indian border.
Telecom stocks might trade actively in today's session after the Trai released mobile subscriber data for the month of February. Reliance Jio added a whopping 6.25 million users and Vodafone Idea lost 3.5 million users during the month.
HDFC Bank is seeking to raise Rs 50,000 crore through the issuance of additional tier-I and tier-II bonds. Further, it plans to acquire home loans worth Rs 28,000 crore from promoter HDFC, in FY21.
And, finally, the Sebi has granted more time to the auditor which is looking into the dealings of six schemes shut down by Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund. The audit firm was to complete the investigation by the first week of July, but has now been allowed to submit its finding by end July or first week of August.
Read by Kanishka Gupta
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