Market Ahead, October 16: All you need to know before the Opening Bell

Markets are likely to trade in the positive territory on Wednesday as trends on SGX Nifty suggest a gap-up opening for the domestic indices.

As per technical evidence, the Nifty index is now placed above its 20, 50, 100 and 200 DMAs, which indicates an upper hand for the bulls.

Corporate earnings for the September quarter will be the key factor driving the markets today. About 11 companies, including Mindtree, are scheduled to declare their Q2 earnings later in the day.

Investors may also react to the IMF's downward revision of India's FY20 GDP growth to 6.1 per cent from its earlier forecast of 7 per cent on the back of a slowdown in demand due to ailing NBFCs.

That apart, development in the US-China trade negotiations, oil price movement, the rupee's trajectory against the dollar, and foreign fund flow will guide investors' sentiment.

Globally, Asian shares took off on Wednesday as Britain and the EU made headway on a Brexit deal ahead of a leaders’ summit slated for Thursday and Friday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.3 per cent. Japan's Nikkei jumped 1.7 per cent, and South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 0.7 per cent. 

On Wall Street, shares settled higher during the overnight trade on Tuesday. The Dow Jones gained 0.89 per cent, the S&P500 added 1 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite settled 1.24 per cent higher.

Back home, the S&P BSE Sensex rallied 292 points or 0.76 per cent to end at 38,506 levels while the NSE's Nifty50 index closed above the crucial 11,400-mark at 11,428, up 87 points or 0.77 per cent.

The top headlines for the day --

>> Wipro, on Tuesday, posted a 35.1 per cent rise in its net profit at Rs 2,552 crore. During the quarter, consolidated revenues of the Bengaluru-headquartered firm rose 4 per cent on year-on-year (YoY) basis at Rs 15,125 crore

>> Exports in September dropped to a three-month low of 6.57 per cent for the third time in the first six months of FY20. Imports, too, contracted for the fourth straight month by 13.85 per cent.

>> Regulators working on tighter norms for promoter pledged share funds

Intra-day trade recommendation by HDFC Securities

The brokerage recommends BUYING ESCORTS at current market price for the target of Rs 660, and keeping a stop loss at Rs 610.