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

India VIX fell down up by 2.62 percent at 12.65 levels. Lower volatility indicates limited downside and decline is being bought in the market.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,706.07, followed by 10,642.23. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,805.47 and 10,841.03.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 26,433.95, up 229 points. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,217.70, followed by 26,001.50. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 26,565.30, followed by 26,696.70.

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.

Asia stocks on edge before tariff deadline in Sino-US trade row

Asian stocks got off to a cautious start on Thursday as investors remained nervous amid a looming deadline for Washington’s proposed tariffs on Chinese imports, leaving financial markets in a state of anxious uncertainty.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.03 percent after declining 0.4 percent the previous day. Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.1 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI was flat and Australian stocks rose 0.4 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 5.5 points or 0.05 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,767-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Will not fire first shot in trade war with US: China

China will “absolutely not” fire the first shot in a trade war with the United States and will not be the first to levy tariffs, its finance ministry said on Wednesday. A person with knowledge of the plan earlier told Reuters China’s threatened tariffs on USD 34 billion of US goods would take effect from the beginning of the day on Friday. Given the 12-hour time difference, that would have put its implementation ahead of Washington’s.

Higher MSP not to impact fiscal deficit target: Arun Jaitley

Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the government's fiscal deficit target would not be breached on account of higher MSP for 14 crops as large provisioning for food subsidy has already been made in the Budget for current fiscal.

Seeking to address farm distress ahead of general elections, the government has hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) paid to farmers for paddy by a record Rs 200 per quintal and by up to 52 percent in other Kharif or summer-sown crops. Announcing the decision after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it would cost an additional Rs 15,000 crore to the exchequer.

Unsecured bank loans rise four-times in FY15-18: Report

Banks' unsecured loan book has grown four times the bank credit during the past three years, helped by a rise in discretionary spending, technology-driven disbursements and lower interest rates, says a report.

"Between fiscals 2015 and 2018, unsecured credit - comprising personal, small and medium enterprise (SME), and credit card loans - clocked a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27 percent or almost four times growth in bank credit," Crisil said in a report on Wednesday.

Rs 3.8 trillion from 70 a/cs need NCLT resolution by Sept

Nearly 70 large accounts with exposure worth Rs 3.8 trillion will require resolution under the Reserve Bank's revised framework by September, warns a report. These accounts are mainly from the power, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) and telecom sectors.

Of these, 34 accounts total 41,000 mw of power generation capacity with total debt of Rs 2 trillion. This accounts will require a resolution under the revised resolution framework. Of the Rs 3.8-trillion exposure, the agency estimates that nearly 92 percent is already classified as NPAs by the lenders.

RBI tightens banks’ statutory auditor rules

Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday tightened rules on banks’ statutory auditors saying it reserved the right to not approve appointments of such auditors for a specified period if their audit quality was not found satisfactory.

The RBI said it will take action against statutory auditors of banks in case of any lapses in their auditing process including instances such as misstatement of a bank’s financial statement or wrong information in audit report.

RBI approves Bank of China's India operations

Bank of China will be open for operations in India following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval on Wednesday, according to a report by News18. This is the second Chinese bank to have received approval after the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

According to the report, the decision was reached after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jingping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on June 9-10 in Qingdao.

Trump to OPEC: 'Reduce pricing now!': Twitter

US President Donald Trump again accused the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries of driving gas prices higher on Twitter on Wednesday and urged the oil cartel’s members to do more.

“The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Oil prices dip as Trump calls on OPEC to 'reduce pricing now'

Oil prices eased on Thursday after US President Donald Trump sent a tweet urging OPEC to reduce prices for crude. Brent crude futures were at USD 77.88 per barrel down 36 cents, or 0.5 percent, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 35 cents, or 0.5 percent, at USD 73.79 per barrel.

India expecting US to get in touch with it over sanctions on Iran

India is looking at the possibility of falling back on the rupee-rial arrangement for importing oil from Iran in the wake of US sanctions on buying oil from the Persian Gulf nation, official sources said yesterday.

"In the next few weeks, we expect to have some engagements on the issue with the US. We cannot pre-judge what the US will be doing," said a source. India may likely to fall back on the rupee-rial arrangement for importing oil from Iran in case the US forces it to cut procurement of petroleum products from that country, the sources said.

Rupee falls 17 paise to 68.74 per dollar

After strong overnight recovery, the Indian rupee yesterday reversed most of its gains towards the fag-end session, losing 17 paise at 68.74 against the US dollar amid rising crude oil prices and inflationary concerns after MSP hike for kharif crops by the government.

In a session marked by wide swings and volatility, the home currency touched a high of 68.45 and low of 68.77. The rupee also weakened against the British pound, euro and Japanese yen.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies