Market Ahead, April 17: Top Factors That Could Guide Markets Today

The SGX Nifty is sharply higher this morning, up over 200 points from yesterday's close, so a gap-up open seems on the cards for Indian indices today. 

This would largely be on the back of positive global cues with Dow futures jumping more than 800 points after the index eked out minor gains in overnight trade. The Dow Jones index rose 0.14 per cent, the S&P 500 gained half a per cent and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.6 per cent, largely driven by surge in Amazon and Netflix stocks.

Asian stocks also bounced on Friday although investors are keeping a keen eye on a spate of Chinese data, due later in the day. South Korea's Kospi surged 3 per cent while Japan's Nikkei and Australia's ASX were up 2.7 per cent each.

In commodities, oil prices steadied a touch after hovering at an 18-year low overnight. Brent crude was last flat at $27.82 a barrel.

Let's now move on to the top developments and events for today.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' media address at 10 am will remain a big focus today for investors who will also digest reports of an imminent second stimulus package. According to a report by Business Standard, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and senior policymakers met yesterday to finalise the stimulus package for those worst affected by the Covid-19-related nationwide lockdown. The upcoming package could be roughly similar in size to the Rs 1.7-trillion package announced earlier.

The report also says the Centre is unlikely to announce one “big-bang” stimulus package and instead will come up with smaller, targeted announcements.

Meanwhile, investors will continue to track the trend in coronavirus cases. The number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 13,430 with 448 deaths, as per the Worldometer tally. Globally, more than 145,456 people have died from Covid-19 so far and the number of confirmed infections has reached over 2 million.

Investors will also react to the March quarter results of Tata Consultancy Services declared yesterday wherein the IT giant posted a mixed set of numbers. For the quarter, it reported 0.8 per cent sequential decline in net profit at Rs 8,049 crore while revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 39,946 crore, up 0.2 per cent sequentially. TCS also said the maximum impact of the crisis would be felt during the first quarter of the current financial year.