Market Ahead, September 25: Top factors that could guide markets today

The Indian markets look set for a rebound after a nearly 3 per cent drop in yesterday's trade. At 7:30 AM, the SGX Nifty was trading nearly 80 points up, indicating an open above the 10,900-mark for the Nifty50 index on the back of favourable global cues. 

Wall Street rallied in a rocky session on Thursday as beaten-down technology shares gained favor. Stocks also reacted positively to news of efforts to enact further stimulus in Washington. Overall, the Dow Jones rose 0.2 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq added 0.37 per cent.

Asian stocks also opened higher on Friday. In early Asian trade, Australia’s ASX 200 rose 1.6 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.77 per cent. Korea's Kospi was also up 0.7 per cent.

In commodities, Brent was trading flat at $42 a barrel.

Back home, India's Covid-19 caseload went past 58 lakh on Thursday while the death toll stood at 92,317.

Banks will be a key focus in today's session after the central government extended the suspension on initiating insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings against firms for three more months till December 24.

Meanwhile, IT stocks may trade under pressure today after Accenture forecast current-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations and missed estimates for fourth-quarter sales, hurt by lower spending from clients impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Accenture's total revenue fell 2 per cent to $10.84 billion in the quarter ended August 31, missing analysts’ estimate.

And now a quick look at some other top news.

According to sources, Reliance Retail is in talks with Electronics Mart India, a consumer durables retail chain, for a possible acquisition. Electronics Mart operates 60 stores in South India with 1,200 employees on its roll. According to the source, talks are underway on the valuation of the chain, and the ask price is Rs 3,000 crore.

In a separate development, media reports have said that Tata Consumer Products is weighing a non-binding bid for the vending machine business of Coffee Day Enterprises. Coffee Day is reportedly seeking a valuation of about 20 billion rupees for the vending machine business.

Domestic rating agency India Ratings and Research on Thursday said it has maintained a negative outlook on NBFCs and housing finance companies for the second half of FY21. It said growth in assets under management would be flattish for NBFCs as against its earlier estimate of 8-10 per cent year-on-year, and in lower single digits for HFCs in FY21.

The Rs 600-crore IPO of Angel Broking garnered nearly four times subscription. The portion reserved for institutional buyers was subscribed the most with 5.76 times followed by retail investors with 4.32 times and non-institutional investors got subscribed only 69 per cent.