Market Ahead, April 29: Top Factors That Could Guide Markets Today

Let's start with the SGX Nifty which is up about 50 points and signalling another green start for the Indian indices. The April series derivative contracts expire tomorrow, so investors might be in for a volatile session today.

The global cues are mixed. Wall Street's major indexes lost ground overnight as investors moved out of market-leading growth stocks even as states began to relax Covid-19 induced restrictions. The Dow Jones fell 0.13 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.5 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.4 per cent.

Asian equities made cautious gains in early trade.  Australia's ASX and South Korea's Kospi were up 1 per cent each while Hong Kong gained 0.7 per cent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 per cent.

Investors are looking for any forward guidance from the US Federal Reserve, which is due to issue a policy statement at the close of its two-day meeting today. The European Central Bank meets on Thursday.

In commodities, oil prices ended mixed with Brent gaining 3.75 per cent to $20.74 a barrel.

Market participants will today react to the March quarter numbers of Axis Bank which reported net loss of Rs 1,388 crore for the quarter. A large chunk of the loss was due to the higher provisioning made by the bank for the Covid-19. The bank's board also authorised it to raise funds up to an amount of Rs 35,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases in India crossed 31,000 and the death toll rose to over 1,000, according to the Worldometer tally. The government yesterday cautioned against the use of plasma therapy, saying there is "no concrete evidence to support plasma therapy as coronavirus treatment. Globally, over 31 lakh people have been infected by corona and 2.16 lakh people have died from the disease so far.

According to a Business Standard report, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to announce this week a second round of stimulus package, for the most affected sections of society, including migrant workers, MSMEs, and farmers. However, the industries seeking support from the government will have to wait, the report says.

Moody’s Investors Service has slashed India's growth forecast for calendar year 2020 to 0.2 per cent, from 2.5 per cent projected in March. Although, for 2021, the rating agency expects India’s growth to rebound to 6.2 per cent.

Another rating agency Fitch has said India’s sovereign rating could come under pressure if its fiscal outlook deteriorates further. Fitch currently rates India at BBB-, with a stable outlook, but any downgrade would consign its sovereign debt to junk bond territory.

Read by: Kanishka Gupta