The main indices in Wall Street ended higher overnight on renewed hops for more US stimulus after President Donald Trump sent a flurry of late night tweets urging Congress to pass piece-meal aid packages. Consequently, the Dow Jones rose 1.9 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.74 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.88 per cent.
Asian indices also tracked the Wall Street gain. Australian ASX 200 rose 1.2 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei added 0.97 per cent, and Korea's Kospi was up 0.16 per cent. On the other hand, Hong Kong was down 0.66 per cent.
The SGX Nifty was trading at around 11,820 levels, indicating a positive start for the domestic indices.
Back home, IT stocks are set to be in focus today after the country's largest IT services company, TCS, beat street expectations in its second-quarter financials, led by a rebound in growth in key verticals and geographies. The company also approved a share buyback programme of Rs 16,000-crore. Following TCS' move, now Wipro is also considering going for a share buyback programme which will be considered in its meeting scheduled on October 13.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has announced new restrictions on H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme, a move which will affect thousands of Indian IT professionals.
Besides, the circuit filter revision for a total of 368 stocks will be implemented from today. This includes 16 scrips whose circuit filter will be raised from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. and includes the likes of Den Networks, Wockhardt Limited, and Welspun Corp among others.
On the results front, a total of seven companies including 5paisa Capital, GM Breweries, and Prabhat Dairy are scheduled to announce their September quarter earnings today.
India added 78,809 new Covid cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 68.3 lakh. Meanwhile, the death toll surpassed the 1 lakh 5 thousand mark.
And now, a quick look at other top news
Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said its total production in September increased 25.63 per cent to 1.66 lakh units. The company had produced a total of 1.32 lakh units in the same month last year.
After the gradual withdrawal of lockdown restrictions, economic activities have slowly picked up pace, and the country’s largest lender, SBI, is currently witnessing credit growth of 6-7 per cent, it said. Although there are concerns in some sub-segments, the public sector lender has said it is back to 70-80 per cent of pre-Covid levels..
Amazon has served a legal notice on the Future Group for striking a deal with Reliance Industries, citing its non-compete agreement with the Kishore Biyani-led chain.
And, the government on Wednesday came up with a new model of giving marketing and pricing freedom to natural gas producers in India. According to industry experts, the move is expected to help major producers like ONGC RIL, and Vedanta's Cairn Oil and Gas.
 "Market Ahead, October 8: All you need to know before the opening bell")
