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

Nifty Bank closed 1.30 percent higher at 32,412.35. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, are placed at 32,164.06, followed by 31,915.83. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 32,552.66 and 32,693.03.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets

The Nasdaq snapped an 11-day streak of gains on Friday after some late-session weakness, but the S&P 500 and the Dow scratched out record closing highs with slight gains as a year-end rally chugged along.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 23.87 points, or 0.08%, to 28,645.26, the S&P 500 gained 0.11 points to 3,240.02 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 15.77 points, or 0.17%, to 9,006.62.

Asian shares down from 18-month top

A broad gauge of Asian share markets fell on Monday as investors consolidated gains after scaling 18-month highs last week, while oil was steady after the U.S. carried out air strikes on an Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militia group in Iraq and Syria.

Dollar trims annual gains

The dollar was on the defensive on Monday in light year-end trading after suffering a setback the previous session, as hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal lifted investors’ risk appetite, sapping safe-haven demand for the greenback.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader indices in India, a gain of 7.50 points or 0.06 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 12,333.50-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Rupee settles 4 paise down at 71.35, slides for 6th day

The rupee depreciated by 4 paise to close at a fresh three-week low of 71.35 against the US dollar on December 27, continuing its losing streak for the sixth day in a row amid steady rise in crude oil prices.

Forex traders said the USD/INR spot has been trading in a tight range amid lack of cues. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened at 71.26 and later fluctuated between a high of 71.19 and a low of 71.40.

Indian economy likely to rebound in 2020: CII

India's economy is expected to rebound in 2020 on the back of measures taken by the government and the RBI coupled with easing of global trade tensions, industry body CII said on Sunday. The chamber also suggested a flexible fiscal policy that will set a central government's target for the deficit in the range of around 0.5 to 0.75 percent, and said it is likely to have a significant multiplier effect on the economy.

It said that as we are set to enter the new year, there are nascent signs that the economy is on a better footing than what it was in the year gone by. "With the proactive measures taken by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), industry believes that the slowdown will be overcome, and a gradual recovery will soon be in place."

HFCs' share in realty loans doubles since 2016: RBI

The loss of public sector banks' share in credit market, especially the realty sector, has been the gain for housing finance companies as their share saw doubling in the past three years to 23.81 percent as of June 2019, according to the latest RBI data. The share of builder loans has risen for non-banking lenders and private banks since 2016, as per the Financial Stability Report (FSR) based on the analysis of 310 companies, even as the proportion of public sector banks' (PSBs) exposure to this segment nearly halved.

Over the past four years, total financing to real estate companies nearly doubled to Rs 2.01 lakh crore, shows the FSR released on Friday.

FPIs remain net buyers in December; invest over Rs 2,600cr

Foreign investors remained net buyers in December by investing Rs 2,613 crore in the domestic markets, mainly due to expectation of a revival in corporate earning, quantitative easing by the US Fed and infusion of funds by central banks globally. According to the depositories data, a net amount of Rs 6,301.96 crore was invested by foreign portfolio investors (FPI) into equities, while Rs 3,688.94 was pulled out of the debt segment. This resulted into a total net investment of Rs 2,613.02 crore between Dec 2-27.

China proactively dealt with US trade frictions: Commerce Ministry

China’s Commerce Ministry has “proactively dealt with” trade frictions with the United States this year, it said on Sunday after an annual work conference.

The ministry has implemented the decisions of the central government and “resolutely safeguarded the interests of the country and the people”, it said in a statement on its website.

Forex reserves climb $456 mn to record $455 bn

The country's foreign exchange reserves increased by $456 million to a fresh lifetime high of $454.948 billion in the week to December 20, according to RBI data. In the previous week, the reserves had swelled by $1.070 billion to $454.492 billion.

In the reporting week, the rise in reserves was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, which surged by $311 million to $422.732 billion, weekly data released by the Reserve Bank on Friday showed.

Bad loans of banks may rise to 9.9% by September 2020: RBI

The asset quality of Indian commercial banks may worsen with rise in slippages and lack of credit growth next year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in the Financial Stability Report released on December 27.

Gross NPA ratio may increase to 9.9 percent by September 2020, from 9.3 percent a year ago, the report said. "This is primarily due to change in macroeconomic scenario, marginal increase in slippages and the denominator effect of declining credit growth," the central bank noted.

No MDR charges on transactions done by RuPay, UPI: Nirmala Sitharman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on November 28 said that Department of Revenue (DoR) will mandate all businesses having a turnover of above Rs 50 crore to provide payment modes UPI QR code or RuPay debit card to ensure they do not charge a merchant discount rate (MDR) fee from January onwards.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will conduct workshops and detailed discussions with officials of public sector banks (PSBs) to help clarify the investigation agency's process.

“There was concern that genuine, bonafide decisions were not being made due to undue harassment from the three Cs,” said Sitharaman, referring to the CBI, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).

RBI to conduct second round of Operation Twist on Monday

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday announced simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities through special open market operations (OMOs) for Rs 10,000 crore each on December 30 following a review of liquidity situation.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 81.37 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), too, bought shares of worth Rs 125.77 crore in the Indian equity market on December 27, provisional data available on the NSE showed.

Prince Pipes to debut on December 30

Polymer pipes and fittings manufacturer Prince Pipes and Fittings will make a debut on the exchanges on December 30 after having finalised the issue price at Rs 178 per share.

The Rs 500-crore IPO did not receive strong subscription, as it was subscribed only 2.21 times from December 18 to December 20, which was far lower compared to recent IPOs. The reserved portion of retail investors was subscribed at 1.89 times, and that of QIBs at 3.54 times and non-institutional investors at 1.21 times.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies