Indian equity markets eyed a negative start to Wednesday's session amid a weak global market setup but a drop in active Covid cases for the third day in a row could lend some support to the sentiment on the Street.
Furthermore, stock-specific action is likely following the latest MSCI rejig while high volatility cannot be ruled out ahead of the weekly F&O expiry. At 7.40 am, SGX Nifty was ruling 19 points down at 14,830.
The stock markets will remain shut for trading on May 13 on account of Id-Ul-Fitr.
In the global markets, US stocks closed lower in overnight session as rising commodity prices and labor shortages fed fears that despite reassurances from the US Federal Reserve, near-term price spikes could translate into longer-term inflation. While all three indexes pared their losses from session lows, the sell-off was fairly evenly dispersed across the sectors.
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.36%, the S&P 500 lost 0.87% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.09%.
Consequently, Asian markets too declined and traded at one-month lows amid concerns that growing inflationary pressure in the United States could lead to earlier rate hikes and higher bond yields globally.
Australian stocks slipped 0.6% while South Korea's KOSPI index skidded 0.7%. Japan's Nikkei reversed early gains to be down 0.4%.
On the Covid front, active Covid cases declined for the third straight day and the fresh Covid cases remained below the 3.5 lakh mark for the second day in a row at 3,48,371. The death toll although hit the highest at 4,205.
Meanwhile, amid a strong second Covid wave, Moody's followed others suit to cut India's FY22 GDP growth forecast. The rating agency slashed the projection to 9.3% for FY22 from 13.7% forecasted earlier. It also ruled out a sovereign rating upgrade, at least for now.
Now, a look at the stock-specific triggers that are likely to guide the market today
A total of 36 companies are slated to post their March quarter numbers today, including Asian Paints, UPL, Pidilite Industries, Lupin, Tata Power and Voltas.
Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Transmission, Apollo Hospitals and SBI Card share will be in focus on inclusion in the MSCI India Domestic index. Meanwhile, Zee Entertainment, Abott India and TVS Motors have been deleted from the index. The changes will come to take place as of the close of May 27. Another 34 companies have been included in the MSCI India Smallcap index.
Airtel added the highest number of active subscribers for the third straight month in February at 3.7 million active subscribers, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. On the other hand, Reliance Jio lost as many as 0.16 million regularly paying users. However, it added 4.27 million gross subscribers in February — 1.1 times higher than Airtel. Vodafone Idea added gross subscribers to its network for the first time since October 2019, gaining 0.65 million users.
Mahindra & Mahindra said its sales volume for the quarter ended June 2021 is estimated to be lower by 15-20 per cent as compared to the year-ago period due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
Siemens posted an over 90 per cent YoY rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 334.4 crore for the March quarter, mainly on the back of higher revenues.
 "Market Ahead Podcast, May 12: Top factors that could guide markets today")
