Market Ahead, May 15: All You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's second tranche of stimulus announcements worth Rs 3.16 trillion were focused largely on migrant workers. 

Besides, she announced that 25 million farmers would be provided Rs 2 trillion concessional credit through kisan credit cards. The NABARD would provide Rs 30,000 crore additional emergency working capital funding for marginal and small farmers. The FM also announced a Rs 70,000-crore boost to the housing sector through a one-year extension of subsidised loans for affordable houses for those with an annual income of Rs 6-18 lakh.

As such, agri and housing-related stocks may react to the announcements in today's session. Besides that, the announcements are unlikely to have a major impact on the markets and investors who track global cues which are largely positive for the day.

Wall Street surged overnight as investors weighed the prospect of economic recovery against bellicose remarks from President Donald Trump regarding US-China trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.15 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9 per cent.

Asian stocks also rose on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.2 per cent, Australian ASX 200 rose 0.7 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was up 0.2 per cent. Tracking such firm global cues, SGX Nifty advanced 53 points at 9,170 levels, indicating a green start for the Indian stock market today.

In commodity markets, oil prices settled higher on Thursday after the International Energy Agency forecast lower global stockpiles in the second half of 2020. Brent crude futures settled 6.7 per cent up at $31.13 a barrel.

Meanwhile, India's total number of coronavirus cases reached 81,997 while death toll increased to 2,649 people, according to Worldometer data. Globally, 45 lakh people have been infected by coronavirus as of today.

In corporate results, Biocon's Q4 net profit declined 42.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs 123 crore while revenue saw a muted growth of 6 per cent. Today, a total of 12 companies including Cipla, Aaarti Drugs, and M&M Finance are scheduled to announce their results

The Sebi has granted reprieve to companies from complying with the 25 per cent minimum public shareholding norms.  The regulator relaxed the requirement for firms that were supposed to have complied with the rule between March 1 and August 31.

The government will convert a bond maturing this year worth Rs 30,000 crore into longer tenure bonds, including one that matures in 40 years. The RBI will be conduct the auction on May 18. The RBI’s actions should enable long-term yields to come down, so that the government can borrow cheaply.

Read by: Kanishka Gupta