Market Ahead, April 6: All you need to know before the Opening Bell

In the overnight session, the US stocks rallied with Dow and S&P500 closing at record levels as a round of strong economic data buoyed investor optimism for the economic reopening and a muted climb in the 10-year US Treasury yield kept inflation worries in check.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.13%, the S&P 500 gained 1.44% and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.67%.

Despite a firm finish for Wall Street, Asian markets were trading mixed. Japan's Topix index fell 0.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 1% and South Korea's Kospi index rose 0.4%.

Back home, rising Covid cases continued to weigh on investor sentiment as benchmark indices looked set to open on a flat note following Monday's bear hammering. At 7.20 am, SGX Nifty was ruling only 2 points or 0.02% higher at 14,725.

India on Monday reported 96,517 fresh infections, a shade lower than the previous day’s record rise of over 1 lakh cases. Keeping in view the rising virus cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with chief ministers on Thursday to discuss the Covid-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive which will be keenly tracked by market participants.

Meanwhile, in the oil market, prices rose in early trade as a drop in the US dollar made crude a more attractive buy, paring losses of more than 4% incurred overnight on the prospect of producers returning to more than 2 million barrels per day of supply to the market by July.

Brent crude futures jumped 1.3% to $62.98 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1.4%, to $59.45 barrel.

Now, a look at the stock-specific triggers that are likely to guide the market today:

Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd on Monday said it will acquire a 9.90 per cent stake in Kerala-based infrastructure fund management company KIFML.

Maruti Suzuki India said its total production in March 2021 increased significantly to 1,72,433 units as against 92,540 units produced in the year-ago period.

SBI Cards and Payment Services on Monday said it has appointed former MD and CEO Ashwini Kumar Tewari as a nominee director on its board with immediate effect.

JSPL on Monday reported a 34.41 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its output at 2.07 million tonne (MT) for the March quarter of FY21. While the company's sales grew 37.41 per cent YoY to 1.91 MT during the same period.

Ircon International board approved the issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund has signed an agreement with Panacea Biotec to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V vaccine in India.