What changed for the market while you were sleeping? 12 things you should know

Bears dominated the D-Street from the word go on Thursday. The index, after breaching 10,700 in Wednesday’s trading session, failed to hold on to 10,600. It formed a long bearish candle on daily charts and the Supertrend indicator gave a sell signal, which does not augur well for bulls.

The index slipped below its crucial 50-EMA but took support at its 100-day moving average placed at 10,571. Bears have tightened their hold on D-Street, which is evident from the fact that the widely tracked Supertrend indicator gave a sell signal on the charts yesterday.

Bank Nifty continued its selling pressure and has been making lower highs - lower lows from last three trading sessions. As long as the index remains below 26,500 it could drift towards 26,100 and then 25,950 while on the upside major hurdles are seen at 26,500 then 26,750 zones.

The Nifty index opened at 10,660 and rose marginally to hit an intraday high of 10,674 but then bears took control of D-Street and took the index below 10,600 levels. The Nifty hit a low of 10,557 before closing the day at 10,589, down 82 points.

India VIX moved up by 3.24 percent at 13.95 levels. The spurt in VIX indicates that bears have taken a grip on the market and selling pressure seen even in many heavyweights stocks in line with the weakness in the global market.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,539.8, followed by 10,490.5. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,656.3 and 10,723.5.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 26,324.6 on Thursday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,161.13, followed by 25,997.67. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 26,487.93, followed by 26,651.27.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines from across news agencies.

US stocks rose on Thursday as technology and other growth sectors rebounded from the prior day’s declines and financial shares snapped a 13-day losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.46 points, or 0.41 percent, to 24,216.05, the S&P 500 gained 16.68 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,716.31, and the Nasdaq Composite added 58.60 points, or 0.79 percent, to 7,503.68.

Asian shares remained near nine-month lows on Friday despite small gains on Wall Street overnight, as ongoing concerns over global trade frictions dampened sentiment, though a move to ease foreign investment curbs in China could boost markets there.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, Australian shares were 0.1 percent higher, while Japan's Nikkei stock index was down 0.2 percent.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to positive opening for the broader index in India, a rise of 9.5 points or 0.09 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,584-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to travel to North Korea next week to discuss the country’s denuclearization plans, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing four people familiar with his plans.

On Wednesday, Pompeo told lawmakers he was confident Pyongyang understood the scope of the US desire for North Korea’s complete denuclearization as the two countries negotiate after the summit. “We’ve been pretty unambiguous in our conversations about what we mean when we say complete denuclearization,” Pompeo told a Senate subcommittee hearing.

The summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be held in Helsinki on July 16, Fox News reported on Thursday. The two countries struck a deal on Wednesday to hold a summit soon. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, speaking after Putin met US National Security

Adviser John Bolton in the Kremlin, said the summit would take place in a mutually convenient third country and that several more weeks were needed to prepare for it.

India's oil ministry has asked refiners to prepare for a 'drastic reduction or zero' imports of Iranian oil from November, two industry sources said, the first sign that New Delhi is responding to a push by the United States to cut trade ties with Iran.

India's oil ministry held a meeting with refiners on Thursday, urging them to scout for alternatives to Iranian oil, the sources said. "(India) has asked refiners to be prepared for any eventuality, since the situation is still evolving. There could be drastic reduction or there could be no import at all," said one of the sources, who has knowledge of the matter.

Oil prices climbed on Thursday, with US crude hitting a three-and-a-half year high, bolstered by supply concerns due to US sanctions that could cause a large drop in crude exports from Iran.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 69 cents, nearly 1 percent, to settle at USD 73.45 a barrel. It reached USD 74.03 earlier in the session, the highest since November 26, 2014. Brent crude futures rose 23 cents to settle at USD 77.85 a barrel.

Fiscal deficit for the current financial year will be maintained at 3.3 percent of the GDP and the fiscal consolidation of the country is as per the "commitment," a top official of the Department of Expenditure under Finance Ministry said.

We were keeping fiscal deficit number (at 3.3 percent)... there is no slippage," Ajay Narayan Jha secretary, Expenditure said.

Continuing its free fall for the fourth straight session, the Indian rupee yesterday hit a record closing low of 68.79, showing a fall of 18 paise against the US dollar due to multiple headwinds like weak global cues and concerns related to inflation and fiscal slippage. The domestic currency's previous all-time closing low was 68.73, touched on November 24, 2016.

The beleaguered Indian rupee crashed to breach the key psychological level of 69 in the morning trade and slipped further to hit a life-time low of 69.10, a fall of 49 paise during the volatile session yesterday.

India may roll back higher tariffs it announced last week on imports from the US if talks on the matter, scheduled to be held in Washington, DC next month, prove fruitful. The government is also hopeful of securing exemption from the Trump Administration regarding steel and aluminium tariffs, which had been imposed earlier by the US against all trade partners.

Sources suggested that Washington, DC may accede to the demands on exemption from the tariffs as exports to the US in the category remain small. Steel shipments to the US are about 3 percent and aluminium exports are slightly higher than 14 percent of total outbound shipments of both products.

HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd, the country’s largest mutual fund, on Thursday received Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi) approval to float an initial public offer (IPO). HDFC Mutual Fund had filed draft papers with Sebi in March and received its “observations” on June 22, according to the latest update with the markets regulator.

The HDFC Mutual Fund IPO comprises a net offer to public of up to 2.21 crore equity shares, a reservation of up to 3.20 lakh shares for purchase by eligible employees. Besides, 24 lakh shares have been reserved for eligible HDFC shareholders.

Money parked by Indians in Swiss banks rose over 50 percent to CHF 1.01 billion (Rs 70 billion) in 2017, reversing a three-year downward trend amid India's clampdown on suspected black money stashed there.

In comparison, the total funds held by all foreign clients of Swiss banks rose about 3 percent to CHF 1.46 trillion or about Rs 100 trillion in 2017, according to the official annual data released today by Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central banking authority of the Alpine nation.

Climate change could cost India 2.8 percent of GDP, and depress living standards of nearly half of its population by 2050, as average annual temperatures are expected to rise by 1-2 percent over three decades, a World Bank report said.

If no measures are taken, average temperatures in India are predicted to increase by 1.5-3 degrees, said the World Bank report titled 'South Asia's Hotspots: The Impact of Temperature and Precipitation Changes on Living Standards'.