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

The Nifty50 after opening sharply higher hit a fresh intraday record high in the morning and remained rangebound throughout the session on Thursday, but the index formed small bearish candle on the daily charts as closing value is lower than opening value.

Not only frontline indices but also broader markets ended higher. The Nifty Midcap index was up half a percent while the BSE Sensex closed above psychological 38,000-mark for the first time, up 136.81 points at 38,024.37.

The market has been consolidating from the beginning of week but the gradual upside continued which took the market to new record high levels, experts said, adding as the market is slowly moving into overbought position, traders are advised to trade with caution.

The Nifty50 after opening at 11,493.25 touched a fresh all-time high of 11,495.20 and traded in about 40-point range for rest of the session. The index ended at fresh record closing high of 11,470.70, up 20.70 points, and is 29 points away from 11,500 levels.

India VIX moved up by 1.33 percent at 12.70. Overall lower volatility suggests that bulls are likely to hold the market.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,451.47, followed by 11,432.23. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 11,492.57 and 11,514.43.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 28,320, up 257.55 points on Thursday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 28,180.2, followed by 28,040.4. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 28,411.6, followed by 28,503.2.

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 and Dow ended down slightly on Thursday as gains in Apple and Amazon were offset by losses in energy and financial shares. The S&P 500 was in slightly positive territory most of the day, putting it once again close to the record high it hit January 26. The Nasdaq also neared its all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 74.52 points, or 0.29 percent, to 25,509.23, the S&P 500 lost 4.12 points, or 0.14 percent, to 2,853.58 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.46 points, or 0.04 percent, to 7,891.78.

Asian stock markets fell on Friday amid heightened global trade tensions, while currency markets were whipsawed by a searing selloff in Russia’s rouble after the United States slapped new sanctions, and as economic worries sent the Turkish lira tumbling.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.3 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock index fell 0.5 percent despite data showing that the country’s economy expanded at a faster-than-expected annualized rate of 1.9 percent in the second quarter in a sign of improving momentum.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 4.5 points or 0.04 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,483-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

A total of 117 fresh cases were taken up for investigation by (SEBI) in 2017-18, marking a decline of 52 percent from the preceding financial year, as per the markets regulator's latest annual report. The cases were related to alleged violation of securities law including market manipulation and price rigging.

"During 2017-18, 117 new cases were taken up for investigation and 145 cases were completed compared to 245 new cases taken up and 155 cases completed in 2016-17," the report noted. Sebi said 34 percent of the total cases taken up for investigation in 2017-18 pertained to market manipulation and price rigging.

Besides, insider trading, takeover violation, among others, accounted for 15 percent of the total cases, while 51 percent were related to other violations of securities laws.

Driven by addition in liquid fund folios, the domestic mutual fund industry has registered a surge of 8.62 lakh investor accounts in July, taking the total tally to 7.55 crore, up 1.2 percent from June, according to the data available on the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s website. Liquid funds added 41,454 accounts last month. Fund managers attributed the addition in folios of liquid funds to a reversal of June outflows.

Among debt categories, gilt funds saw a drop of 2,365 folios accounts in July, while income funds witnessed an addition of 20,683.

The option of interim dividend from the Reserve Bank of India during the financial year is open and decision in this regard may be taken later this year,

Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said on Thursday. The RBI board decided to pay Rs 50,000 crore as dividend to the government for the financial year ended June 2018 on Wednesday. RBI follows July-June fiscal year.

Explaining the breakup of dividend announced by RBI, Garg said, "You declare a dividend after year closes. RBI financial year closes on June 30, now they are finalising accounts and they declared Rs 50,000 crore as dividend. Rs 10,000 crore (as interim dividend) was received last year (FY18), Rs 40,000 crore will come (FY19)."

Crude prices settled slightly lower on Thursday, extending the previous session’s losses as the escalating China-US trade dispute casts doubt over the outlook for oil demand. Brent crude futures fell 21 cents to settle at USD 72.07 a barrel. US crude fell 13 cents to USD 66.81 a barrel.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed four bills amending laws relating to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The move aims at plugging loopholes in existing laws and reducing the compliance burden for taxpayers. The Central GST (Amendment) Bill, 2018, Integrated GST (Amendment) Bill, 2018, The Union Territory GST (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill, 2018 got the Lower House’s nod.

The provisions will allow taxpayers to amend their tax returns in order to rectify errors. They also widen the scope for availing input tax credit.

In the face of rising external risks, the Indian government should remain prepared to take prompt action to meet emerging challenges, said Andreas Bauer, International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) senior resident representative for India, Nepal and Bhutan.

"India has over the last few years reduced vulnerabilities, and is in a better spot than five years ago at the time of the taper tantrum. We have a much stronger policy framework. We have greater buffer in several sectors. That said, while India is much better prepared today, some spillovers will affect the economy. Oil has a very direct impact," he added, as reported by Mint.

A Parliamentary panel has suggested that retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund of India (EPFO) should act as the sole regulator for all categories of provident funds particularly private PF trusts. "The committee has strongly recommended that the government, if required, may amend various Acts and authorise EPFO to act as sole regulator for all categories of provident funds."

At present the panel noted that the EPFO is not the sole PF organisation or regulator in the country. The provident fund of private establishments/organisation/PSUs largely come under the EPFO purview.

A parliamentary panel has advocated that central PSUs initiate the process of appointment of independent directors by recommending names directly to the search committee under their respective administrative ministry and the department of public enterprises, a move aimed at expediting the appointments.

According to the committee, the "greatest threat to professionalisation of Boards of CPSEs lies in the rampant non-compliance by CPSEs with provisions aimed at good corporate governance practices". It called for the Department of Public Enterprises to be entrusted with the responsibility of playing the role of the regulatory agency to all CPSEs.

Snapping its two-day rally, the rupee yesterday ended lower by 5 paise at 68.68 against the US dollar on renewed buying interest for the American currency even as domestic equities remained in a triumphant mode. Escalating trade war and sanctions dominated headlines and continued to play a critical role in driving the forex market sentiment after the US imposed fresh tariffs on imported goods from China and sanctions against several other nations.

Earlier, the rupee resumed with a gap-up at 68.48 from Wednesday's close of 68.63 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market on steady dollar selling by exporters. It later hit a session high of 68.45 in mid-morning deals before eventually pulled back to a low of 68.71 before finally settling the day at 68.68, showing a modest loss of 5 paise, or 0.07 percent.

As many as 377 companies will report their results for quarter ended June which include names like Alkem Laboratories, Andhra Bank, Apollo Hospitals, BOSCH, DLF, GAIL India, Hindalco Industries, Dr Lal Pathlabs, NHPC, State Bank of India, Sun TV, United Breweries, UCO Bank and Voltas among others.

Dodla Dairy, a leading dairy company headquarters at Hyderabad, on Thursday filed draft papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to float an initial public offering. The initial public offer (IPO) comprises fresh issuance of shares worth up to Rs150 crore, besides, an offer for sale of up to 95,43,770 equity shares by TPG Dodla Dairy Holdings Pte Ltd and Dodla Deepa Reddy, according to the draft papers filed with Sebi.

Edelweiss Financial Services and ICICI Securities will manage the company’s initial share sale. The equity shares will be listed on NSE and BSE.

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 10, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power and Punjab National Bank are present in this list.