Top 10 things to know before the market opens today

Stock market

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 109 points.

The BSE Sensex rallied 574 points to 57,037, while the Nifty50 jumped 178 points to 17,136 and formed Bullish Harami candlestick pattern on the daily charts, indicating a reversal of trend.

As per pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 17,015, followed by 16,893. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,223 and 17,309.

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 ended in mixed territory on Wednesday as the tech-heavy Nasdaq was dragged down by bleak Netflix earnings, while bond yields dipped after a recent strong run.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 249.59 points, or 0.71%, to 35,160.79, the S&P 500 lost 2.76 points, or 0.06%, to 4,459.45 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 166.59 points, or 1.22%, to 13,453.07.

Asian Markets

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Thursday morning trade as investors continue to watch China’s COVID situation along with moves in the Japanese yen.

Chinese stocks fell in early trade, with the Shanghai composite shedding 0.3% while the Shenzhen component shed 0.12%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.3%.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan gained 1.14% while the Topix index advanced 0.63%. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.61%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 nudged 0.22% higher.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 109 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,255 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

Oil climbs but takes a breather in tight range

Oil prices traded higher but in a narrow range on Thursday, after being rocked earlier in the week by supply losses from Libya and a worrying outlook for demand as the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts.

Brent crude futures rose 55 cents, or 0.5%, to $107.35 a barrel at 0117 GMT, recouping losses from the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 41 cents, or 0.4%, to 102.60 a barrel, adding to a 19 cent gain in the previous session.

EPFO adds 14.12 lakh subscribers in February, up 14% on year

Retirement fund body EPFO on Wednesday said it added 14.12 lakh subscribers in February 2022, 14 per cent more than 12.37 lakh enrolled in the same month a year ago. "The provisional payroll data of EPFO released today highlights that EPFO has added 14.12 lakh net subscribers in the month of February, 2022,” a labour ministry statement said.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data showed that net enrolments between April 2021 and February 2022 were 1.11 crore.

Jan-March domestic air passenger traffic jumps 6.1% YoY, Indigo retains largest market share

Domestic air passenger traffic in the January-March period surged to 248 lakh, marking a 6.1 percent growth as compared to the corresponding period last year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on April 20.

In March alone, the domestic flight operators carried 106.96 lakh passengers, which was 36.7 percent higher as compared to February 2022 when the monthly traffic stood at 78.22 lakh, as per the data shared by the aviation sector watchdog.

"Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-March 2022 were 248.00 lakhs as against 233.83 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering annual growth of 6.06 % and monthly growth of 36.74%," the DGCA report said.

Results on April 21

HCL Technologies, Nestle India, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, L&T Technology Services, Tata Communications, CRISIL, Cyient, Rallis India, Sasken Technologies, Shiva Cement, Betala Global Securities, Rajratan Global Wire, Roni Households, Shukra Jewellers, S&T Corporation, and Trident Texofab will release quarterly earnings on April 21.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,009.26 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 2,645.82 crore on April 20, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Dollar edges up after pullback amid caution as finance ministers meet

The dollar edged up on Thursday supported by expectations for aggressive Federal Reserve monetary tightening, but was well off the previous day's peaks amid nervousness about what a gathering of finance ministers might say about its rapid appreciation.

The greenback added 0.36% to 128.335 yen, after soaring to a two-decade high of 129.430 on Wednesday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) stepped in to the bond market for the third time in three months to defend its zero-percent yield target, drawing a stark contrast with the Fed's increasingly hawkish posture.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

One stock – Tata Power – is under the F&O ban for April 21. 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