Top 10 things to know before the market opens

The Indian stock market is expected to open marginally higher as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to positive start for the index in India with a 28 points gain.

The BSE Sensex fell 202.22 points to 47,878.45 on April 23 while the Nifty50 corrected 64.80 points to 14,341.40.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,256, followed by 14,170.7. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,443.9 and 14,546.5.

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:

US Markets

US stocks rallied on Friday, driving the S&P 500 to a near-record closing high, after factory data and new home sales underscored a booming economy while megacap stocks rose in anticipation of strong earnings reports next week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.67% to 34,043.49 and the S&P 500 gained 1.09% at 4,180.17, just below its previous closing high of 4,185.47 on April 16. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.44% at 14,016.81.

Asian Markets

Asian stocks rose for a third straight session on Monday as risk appetite was aided by recent data showing the world economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was well on track while the U.S. dollar loitered near two-month lows.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to positive opening for the index in India with a 80 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,372 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:20 IST.

Finance Ministry relaxes spending norms to boost capital expenditure

In a bid to boost the economy grappling with the fresh COVID-19 wave, the Finance Ministry has relaxed the spending guidelines to enable ministries and departments to undertake capital expenditure totalling Rs 44,000 crore envisaged in the budget for 2021-22.

According to an office memorandum (OM) issued by the Finance Ministry on Thursday, the monthly/quarterly expenditure plan (MEP/QEP) ceilings and restrictions will not apply for expenditure under the capital heads under the budget.

Indian rupee's fortunes depend on RBI's intent to prevent further weakness: Economists

The Indian rupee’s near-term fortunes may directly be influenced by the Reserve Bank of India’s intent on preventing any further depreciation in the currency as the surge in COVID-19 cases hits jobs and growth, economists and traders said.

“INR is likely to trade with a depreciating bias on the back of a stronger dollar, relatively weaker EM currencies, muted EM inflows and rising COVID-19 cases in India,” said Sameer Narang, chief economist at state-run Bank of Baroda.

ICICI Bank Q4 profit spikes 261% to Rs 4,403 crore, net interest income grows 17%

Private sector lender ICICI Bank on April 24 clocked a massive 260.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in standalone profit at Rs 4,402.61 crore for quarter ending March 2021. The profit in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 1,221.4 crore. The number was below the CNBC-TV18 poll estimates which pegged it at Rs 4,862.8 crore, partly due to higher tax cost.

Net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 16.9 per cent to Rs 10,431.13 crore in Q4FY21, compared to Rs 8,926.9 crore in Q4FY20.

UK economy set to grow faster than the U.S. this year - Goldman

Britain looks set to see faster economic growth than the United States this year as the country races ahead with its vaccination programme after its slump in 2020, Goldman Sachs said on Sunday.

Results on April 26

Tech Mahindra, HDFC Life Insurance Company, SBI Cards and Payment Services, Castrol India, Delta Corp, Alok Industries, Automotive Stampings & Assemblies, Benares Hotels, Kedia Construction, National Standard (India), Roselabs Finance, Schaeffler India, Snowman Logistics, Suraj, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) and Welcure Drugs & Pharmaceuticals will declare quarterly earnings on April 26.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,360.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchased shares worth Rs 1,695.59 crore in the Indian equity market on April 23, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

2 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Indiabulls Housing Finance and Sun TV Network are under the F&O ban for April 26. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies.