Top 10 things to know before the market opens

BSE Sensex

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 97-point gain.

The BSE Sensex rallied 749.85 points, or 1.53 percent, to 49,849.84 on March 1 while the Nifty50 climbed 232.30 points or 1.60 percent.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,664.4, followed by 14,567.3. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,832.7 and 14,903.9.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in 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

The S&P 500 surged on Monday in its strongest one-day gain since June as bond markets calmed after a month-long selloff, while another COVID-19 vaccine getting U.S. approval and fiscal stimulus bolstered expectations of a swift economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.95% to end at 31,535.51 points, while the S&P 500 gained 2.38% to 3,901.82. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.01% to 13,588.83.

Asian Markets

Asian shares are poised to rally on Tuesday as a halt in a recent bond markets sell-off calmed investor's nerves and lifted riskier assets, although oil prices were on the defensive on fears of slowing Chinese energy consumption.

Australian shares jumped 0.8% in early trade, while E-mini S&P futures climbed 0.15%. Japan’s Nikkei opened 0.93% higher.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 97 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,890 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:15 hours IST.

Oil down more than 1% on Chinese fuel demand doubts, OPEC supply concerns

Oil prices fell more than 1% on Monday as fears that Chinese oil crude consumption is slowing and that OPEC may increase global supply following a meeting this week.

Brent crude settled at $63.69 a barrel, falling 73 cents, or 1.1%, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $60.64 a barrel, losing 86 cents, or 1.4%.

Spectrum auction: Winning bids worth Rs 77,164 crore received on Day 1

On the first day of spectrum auction, the government received winning bids worth Rs 77,146 crore as against its expectation of Rs 45,000 crore, said Union communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on March 1. There were only three bidders - Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio - this year, as against seven bidders during the last spectrum auction in 2016.

This year the government is offering spectrum across seven bands—700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1,800MHz, 2,100MHz, 2,300MHz, and 2,500MHz. The spectrum bought will be valid for 20 years.

Sebi proposes stricter rules on independent directors

India's market regulator proposed on Monday tighter eligibility and appointment rules for independent directors of listed companies, a move seen aimed at protecting minority investors. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposed that if listed companies in India wish to appoint or remove independent directors they should require the "dual approval" of shareholders and a majority of the company's minority investors.

If either of the requirements is not met, a new person will not be appointed and existing independent directors can't be removed, Sebi said in its proposal, which is open for public consultation until April 1.

US factory activity scales 3-year high, price pressures building

U.S. manufacturing activity increased to a three-year high in February amid a surge in new orders, but factories continued to face higher costs for raw materials and other inputs amid labour shortages at suppliers as the pandemic drags on.

The ISM said its index of national factory activity rebounded to a reading of 60.8 last month from 58.7 in January. That was the highest level since February 2018.

NSE glitch: Sebi forms panel to strengthen interoperability

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) held a meeting of stock exchanges and clearing corporations on March 1 to discuss measures to strengthen the interoperability mechanism, which many market participants said had collapsed last week.

“Sebi has held the meeting to discuss possible resolutions to handle situations similar to the ones that occurred last week where exchange and clearing corporation operations were halted due to some technical reasons hence interoperability was also not working,” a source at an exchange invited for the meeting told Moneycontrol. He said the regulator had called a virtual meeting.

Bank credit demand may almost double to 9-10% in FY22: Report

On the back of timely government and regulatory measures this fiscal, which helped the economy to recover faster than expected, bank credit is seen growing 400-500 bps to 9-10 percent in the next financial year, according to a report.

In the current fiscal, bank credit is expected to rise 4-5 percent despite the sharpest contraction in the economy since Independence. As per the Crisil report, the economy is likely to grow at 11 percent in FY22.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 125.15 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 194.88 crore in the Indian equity market on March 1, as per provisional data available on the NSE.