Kshitij Anand
Moneycontrol News
The Nifty is likely to open flat on Friday tracking positive closing on Wall Street. The index slipped below its two crucial support level of 9,500-9,450 on Thursday and made a bearish candle on the charts.
The index made a bearish candle after a 'hanging man' kind of formation in the previous trading session. The index closed below Wednesday’s intraday low of 9,486.10 which hints at further correction, suggest experts.
However, there could be a small pullback which should be used by investors to exit long positions. The bullish momentum will resume if Nifty50 manages to break above 9,480-9,532 levels.
Stay tuned with Moneycontrol.com to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines from across news agencies:
GST rates fixed for 1,211 items
India moved closer towards a country-wide Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Thursday with the GST Council fixing tax rates on of 1211 items, most of which will likely become cheaper as the new rates will be lower than the current effective levies.
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said in Srinagar that sugar, edible oil, normal tea and coffee (not instant tea or coffee) will attract a GST rate of 5 percent, down from the current effective rate of 4-6 percent, Moneycontrol reported.
Hair oil, toothpaste, and soaps will be taxed at 18 percent under GST, significantly lower than the present effective rate of 28 percent.
Coal will be taxed at 5 percent under GST, compared to a current effective rate of 11.7 percent, raising prospects of lower power tariffs.
Wall Street ends rebounds
US markets bounced back after hitting a multi-month low in the previous session on strong macroeconomic data and value buying at lower levels.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said business activity index rose in May after declining for two months. Weekly unemployment data also pointed to strength in the labour market, Reuters said in a report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 56.09 points, or 0.27 percent, to 20,663.02, the S&P 500 gained 8.69 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,365.72 and the Nasdaq Composite added 43.89 points, or 0.73 percent, to 6,055.13.
SGX Nifty
The Nifty50 futures on the Singapore Stock Exchange were trading 13 points higher at 9,447 indicating a negative opening for the domestic market.
There are still hopes of tax reforms: Steven Mnuchin
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that he still believes the Trump administration can get tax reform completed this year.
Wall Street rallied on hopes of pro-growth reforms announced by the Donald Trump government. The administration put out a one-page blueprint of its tax reform plans in April but faces hurdles in getting consensus on them in Congress, said a report.
Oil rises ahead of OPEC meeting
Oil prices rose on Thursday ahead of next week's OPEC meeting as key producing countries suggested they would adhere to production cuts to reduce a global crude glut, said a report.
Brent crude rose 30 cents a barrel to USD 52.51 at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). US crude oil rose 23 cents to USD 49.30. Analyst are hopeful that OPEC and Russia will extend output cuts.
Cognizant denies pink slip plans
Every industry is on the cusp of a transformation because of technology and this is probably one of the most exciting times to be in the job market, Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Senior Vice-President of Corporate Marketing at Cognizant, told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interaction.
"We are talking about 3-D printing happening in manufacturing, in financial services people are talking about blockchain, media and entertainment industry people are talking about virtual reality, augmented reality, so on and so forth. All these are enabled by the technology. So if somebody were to get employed by the market today the opportunities and the options that are available to the individual today, the canvas is much wider more enriching," Ramamoorthy said.
In March, Cognizant came under the scanner for reportedly laying off 6,000 employees and also offering voluntary separation package to senior level staffers.
HUDCO to make D-Street debut on May 19
Shares of state-run HUDCO, which recently concluded its Rs 1,224 crore initial public offer, will make the stock market debut on May 19.
The IPO of Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) saw a huge demand from investors and was subscribed nearly 80 times.
87 companies to report Q4 results today
As much as 87 companies are scheduled to report their results for the quarter ended March 31 on Friday which include names like Abbott India, Bharat Bijlee, Camline Fine, Claris Lifesciences, Dhanuka Agritech, Future Enterprises, HT Media, Just Dial, Mahindra Holidays, MM Forging, Motherson Sumi, SBI, Sintex Industries, Suzlon, Titagarh Wagons, V-Guard Industries, VRL Logistics, and Zuari Agro.
Rupee slips 69 paise to 64.84
The rupee on Thursday fell by a massive 69 paise to end at more than one-month low of 64.84 against the US dollar amid heightened global volatility. This was the biggest single-day slump for the domestic currency since July 26, 2016.
MFIs stressed loans balloon to 14 percent
The demonetisation move has severely affected microlenders, with their stressed assets ratio shooting up to 14.1 percent as of March 31, 2017.
The portfolio at risk, measured by loans which are unpaid for over 30 days, increased to 14.1 percent from 0.40 percent in the year-ago period, the Microfinance Institutions Network, an industry body that acts as a self-regulatory organisation, said in a statement.
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