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

The Indian markets look set to begin Friday's session on a flat note with the SGX Nifty trading 6 points up at 14,626, at 7:30 AM. Meanwhile, another record spike in daily Covid-19 cases in India, corporate results, and global cues will be the other top factors influencing the market movement.

India recorded its biggest-ever single day spike of 2.16 lakh fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, according to Worldometer, taking its overall tally to 1.42 crore cases.

Meanwhile, in the overnight session, On Wall Street, surprisingly robust economic data helped propel US indexes to records. US retail sales rebounded 9.8 per cent in March, the largest increase since May 2020, while the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since mid-March 2020. Consequently, the Dow Jones rose 0.9 per cent and the S&P 500 advanced 1.11 per cent. The Nasdaq added 1.31 per cent.

Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes declined. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note slid below 1.6 per cent to yield 1.563 per cent in the biggest single-day decline in the benchmark's yield in almost three months.

Asian stocks fluctuated in early trade Friday. Hang Seng was last up 0.36 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 per cent, while Australia's ASX200 was down 0.1 per cent.

In commodities, oil prices held near a one-month high following the strong US economic data and higher demand forecasts from the International Energy Agency. Brent crude futures settled up 36 cents at $66.94 a barrel. Meanwhile, Gold edged up 0.1 per cent to $1,765 an ounce.

Now, a look at the stock-specific triggers that are likely to guide the market today

Mindtree, Den Networks, GTPL Hathway, MMTC, and AAR Commercial Company are scheduled to release quarterly numbers today.

Wipro, on Thursday, reported consolidated net profit of Rs 2,970 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2021, an increase of 27.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and a 0.1 per cent rise sequentially. Total revenue for the quarter grew 3.4 per cent YoY at Rs 16,250 crore. The company expects dollar revenue in Q1FY22 in the range of $2,195-2,238 million.

National Fertilizers: Government has issued a request for proposals to engage legal advisors, merchant bankers and selling brokers to sell a 20 per cent stake in the company via OFS.

Ashoka Buildcon has received a Letter of Award from Gujarat Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (G-RIDE) for a gauge conversion project. The accepted project cost is Rs 333.625 crore.

Sadbhav Infrastructure Project has raised Rs 550 crore by allotment of 55,000 unlisted, secured NCDs of the face value of Rs 1 lakh each on a private placement basis.