What changed for the market while you were sleeping? 15 things you should know

Bulls pushed the Nifty index to a record high of 11,459.95 Wednesday after two straight days of consolidation, but analysts’ feel investors should tread with cautions as the index is near crucial resistance levels.

The index formed a bullish candle on the daily charts after two successive bearish candles. The next crucial resistance for the index is placed at 11,500-11530 while support is placed at 11,330, suggest experts.

The Nifty 50 which opened at 11,412 hit a record high of 11,459. It hit an intraday low of 11,379 before closing the day 60 points higher at 11,450.

The action on the banking space really stood out. Bank Nifty has been making higher lows from last four trading sessions and made a new lifetime high at 28,128 marks.

The index formed a Bullish candle on the daily scale with the highest ever daily closing ahead of weekly expiry day. It has to hold above 27,900 zones to extend its move towards 28,250 zones while major support is seen at 27,650 zones.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,399.53, followed by 11,349.07. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 11,480.23 and 11,510.47.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 28,062.4. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 27,904.57, followed by 27,746.73.

On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 28,174.46, followed by 28,286.53.

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.

The S&P 500 closed slightly lower on Wednesday as falling crude prices and trade jitters held markets in check. The Nasdaq posted its seventh consecutive daily advance, while the Dow was down marginally. The S&P 500’s dip occurred as the index has inched closer in recent days to its record high set on January 26.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.16 points, or 0.18 percent, to 25,583.75, the S&P 500 lost 0.75 point, or 0.03 percent, to 2,857.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.66 points, or 0.06 percent, to 7,888.33.

Asia traded mixed on Thursday morning after the US market was mostly little changed overnight following new Chinese tariffs on American goods. The ASX 200 was up 0.15 percent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 0.54 percent and the Topix index was down 0.55 percent.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 4.5 points or 0.04 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,473-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

China is slapping additional import tariffs of 25 percent on USD 16 billion worth of US goods ranging from oil and steel products to autos and medical equipment, the commerce ministry said, as the world's two largest economies escalate their trade dispute.

"This is a very unreasonable practice," the commerce ministry said on its website www.mofcom.gov.cn, responding to the United States' decision to slap 25 percent tariffs on another USD16 billion of Chinese goods on August 23.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) plans to focus on equity, debt and interest rate futures segments for business expansion as well as on reducing the cost of raising funds for companies, a senior official said.

Equity market penetration has the potential to grow and the bourse intends to concentrate on segments like debt, interest rate futures and commodity market for expanding its business, NSE chairman Ashok Chawla said at the exchange's silver jubilee celebrations. On the priorities, Chawla said the exchange will focus on reducing the fund raising costs for companies and also looks at organic and inorganic growth opportunities.

Oil prices slumped on Wednesday after Chinese import data showed a slowdown in demand and weighed on world equity markets, which traded near break-even as US technology shares extended recent gains. US crude fell USD 2.23 to settle at USD 66.94 per barrel and Brent settled at USD 72.28, down USD 2.37 on the day.

India's average per capita income in the last four financial years was higher at Rs 79,882 as compared to the preceding four fiscals, Parliament was informed. In contrast, from 2011-12 to 2014-15 it was Rs 67,594.

"The average Per Capita NNI (net national income) in the country during 2011-12 to 2014-15 is estimated at Rs 67,594 whereas average Per Capita NNI in the country during 2014-15 to 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 79,882," Minister of State for Statistics Vijay Goel said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

According to statement, the per capita income grew by 4.6 percent in 2013-14 to Rs 68,572; 6.2 percent to Rs 72,805 in 2014-15; 6.9 percent to Rs 77,826 in 2015-16 and by 5.7 percent to Rs 82,229 in 2016-17.

NSE yesterday said it has initiated fresh talks with markets regulator Sebi to settle a probe into the co-location issue through consent mechanism. "Now, Sebi has completed its work so we have again started the conversation with the regulator on consent," NSE MD and CEO Vikram Limaye said.

A consent settlement allows entities to settle charges by paying a penalty without admission or denial of guilt. The regulator is seeking a settlement with the regulator in connection with a probe relating to allegations of unfair access to its high frequency trading systems to some brokers. The exchange's Rs 10,000 crore initial public offer has been delayed because of the probe in the co-location matter.

Economic growth has gone downhill since touching 8.2 percent in 2016, and correspondingly, the trend in employment growth has dovetailed market sentiment.

The growth in the total employee base has dropped by over 1 percentage point to 6.6 percent in FY18, from 7.7 percent in the year-ago period. GDP growth has tapered off in the last couple of years, clocking 7.1 percent and 6.7 percent growth in FY17 and FY18 respectively.

The total number of permanent employees increased from 3.98 million in FY16 to 4.29 million in FY17, a rise of 7.7 percent. However, there has been a marginal dip in the employment growth rate in FY18, as only 0.28 million jobs were added, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.6 percent. The data for the survey was collated by CARE Ratings, and encompasses 700 companies with net sales amounting to Rs 33.08 lakh crore.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) Wednesday approved the acquisition of Flipkart by US-based Walmart, three months after the latter announced the acquisition plan. "The commission is of the opinion that the proposed combination is not likely to have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India and therefore, the same is hereby approved," the CCI said in its order letter.

Walmart will now subscribe to the ordinary shares issued by Flipkart for an aggregate purchase price of USD 2 billion in cash. Flipkart's Co-Founder and Executive Chairman Sachin Bansal is expected to exit the firm, selling his 5.5 percent stake. Binny Bansal will be selling about 10 percent of his current holdings, lowering his stake to about 4.5 percent from the current 5.1 percent.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Vikram Limaye, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the exchange talked about various issues, including NSE’s merger with MCX, its IPO plan and way forward in the co-location case.

We have started discussion on the issue. It has been talked about for four years now. SEBI has completed its investigations and has issued a new show-cause notice. We, now, have to begin the conversation and resolve the matter. The matters that were raised in terms of gaps and controls, those have already been fixed. But I can’t put out a timeline for SEBI.

IPO, too, depends on co-location case. Unless the case gets resolved, I can’t say about the IPO. Because depending on the resolution of the case, we will have to file our draft red-herring prospectus (DRHP). So unless that gets settled, I can’t say about the IPO’s timeline.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer surplus worth Rs 50,000 crore to the government, higher than what the Finance Ministry had budgeted for the financial year 2018-19. The Finance Ministry had budgeted for a surplus of Rs 45,000 crore for the current financial year. Therefore, a higher-than-estimated of Rs 5,000 crore would lead to a windfall for the Centre.

“The Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India, at its meeting held on August 8, 2018, approved the transfer of surplus amounting to Rs 50,000 crore for the year ended June 30, 2018 to the Government of India,” the apex bank said in a release on Wednesday.

The rupee yesterday further consolidated its gains by 5 paise to end at 68.63 against the US currency, extending its recovery momentum for the second-straight day as the dollar weakened on worsening US-China trade war. A record-setting rally in domestic equities too weighed on the forex trading front. The rupee confined in a narrow range of 68.57 and 68.71 most part of the day.

Earlier, the rupee opened a tad higher at 68.66 from Tuesday's close of 68.68 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on sustained dollar selling by exporters and bank. It later strengthened to hit a session high of 68.57 in mid-morning deals, but eventually halted the sharp upmove and settled at 68.63, showing a gain of 5 paise, or 0.07 percent.

The initial public offer of microfinance firm CreditAccess Grameen was subscribed 25 percent on the first day of bidding today. The nearly Rs 1,130-crore IPO received bids for 47,83,205 shares against the total issue size of 1,88,29,684 shares, data available with the NSE showed.

The IPO, which is scheduled to close on Friday, has been set in a price band for Rs 418-422 per shares. The offer comprises of a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 630 crore and an offer for sale of up to 1,18,76,485 shares (including anchor portion of 80,41,617 shares). ICICI Securities, Credit Suisse Securities, IIFL Holdings and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company are managing the issue.

On the earnings front, as many as 241 companies will be reporting their results for the quarter ended June later today which include names like AIA Engineering, Apollo Micro, Bajaj Electricals, Bhushan Steel, Bharat Forge, Capacite Infraprojects, EIL, Hindustan Copper, Jet Airways, Jindal Steel & Power, MRF, United Bank of India, Venky’s India, Zee Learn, etc.

Securities in ban period for the next day's trade under the F&O segment includes companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

For August 9, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Jet Airways and Punjab National Bank are present in this list.