Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens

Dalal Street

The Indian equity benchmarks are expected to open flat or marginally higher today, as trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a mildly positive start for the broader index with a gain of 15 points after Nifty closed 98 points higher at 17,722 on Tuesday. SGX futures stood at 17,802.

The BSE Sensex in the previous session added 311 points to close at 60,157, while the Nifty50 closed 98 points higher at 17,722, trading comfortably higher than its 200-day moving average of 17,511 and trying to consolidate on the recent momentum.

The pivot charts indicate that the Nifty may get support at 17,673, followed by 17,651 and 17,615. If the index advances, 17,745 is the initial key resistance level to watch out for, followed by 17,767 and 17,802.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

SGX Nifty

Trends on the SGX Nifty indicate a mildly positive start for the broader index in India, as the index gains 15 points to trade at 17,802 level on the Singaporean Exchange from its April 11 closing of 17,722.

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US Markets.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded flat, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures inched 0.04 percent and 0.07 percent higher, respectively. Stocks ended Tuesday’s regular session mixed. The S&P 500 closed little changed, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.29 percent and Nasdaq Composite lost 0.43 percent.

The Dow added 98 points, or 0.29 percent, during Tuesday's regular trading session. The S&P 500 remained flat at 4108, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped by 0.43 percent to close at 12,031.

European Markets

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index closed 0.6 percent higher on Tuesday, with eyes on economic data from the U.S. France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.9 percent while the FTSE 100 rose 0.57 percent and Germany’s DAX closed 0.37 percent higher.

Mining stocks led gains with a 3.6 percent rise, with Rio Tinto
up 5 percent, despite recent signs of weakness from the Chinese and U.S. economies.

Asian markets

Asia markets mostly rise ahead of the U.S. inflation report and bank earnings. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent and the Topix gained 0.6 percent as traders further digested Japan’s producer price index and machinery orders report. South Korea’s Kospi was marginally higher a day after the Bank of Korea held its benchmark interest rate at 3.5 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.3 percent while Hang Seng index futures meanwhile also pointed to a lower open.

TCS Q4 Preview| Subdued growth expected due to client delays in US and Europe Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)

India’s biggest Information Technology (IT) services company will report fourth-quarter earnings today as US and European clients shaken by a banking crisis delayed on tech spending decisions.

March CPI inflation seen at 15-month low of 5.7% due to favorable base.

India's headline retail inflation is expected to have dropped to a 15-month low in March thanks to a favourable base. According to a Moneycontrol survey of 17 economists, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation likely fell sharply to 5.7 percent last month from 6.44 percent in February.

Oil rises about 2% with U.S. and China inflation in focus

Oil prices rose about 2% on Tuesday on hopes that the Federal Reserve might ease up on its policy tightening after a key U.S. inflation report this week, though concerns remain over Chinese demand.

Brent crude futures settled up $1.73 or 2.1 percent, to $85.57 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.74 or 2.1 percent, to $81.48 a barrel.

Dollar

Rate hike expectations boosted the US dollar index on Monday and Tuesday, which weighed on oil prices as dollar strength makes oil more expensive for other currency holders.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six rivals, was 0.078 percent lower in futures at 101.743. The value of one US Dollar hovers near the 82.04 mark in comparison with the Indian Rupee.

Gold

Gold climbs as dollar pauses ahead of US inflation data. Gold climbed back up above the key $2,000 level on Tuesday as the dollar came off last session’s peak, while traders hunkered down for Wednesday’s U.S. inflation data for cues on future interest rate hikes. Spot gold rose 0.7 percent to $2,005.3376 per ounce while U.S. gold futures settled 0.8 percent higher at $2,021.0.

FII and DII

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 342.84 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) sold shares worth Rs 264.02 crore on April 11, National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.

With inputs from Reuters and other agencies.