What changed for the market while you were sleeping? Top 10 things to know

Indian stock market is expected to open in the green following US Markets on optimism about the development of coronavirus vaccines and a revival of business activity. SGX Nifty is trading higher by 54 points. The Nifty futures were trading at 9076 on the Singaporean Exchange.

Benchmark indices failed to hold on to their their opening gains on May 26 and ended marginally lower with Sensex closing the day with a loss of 63 pointsat 30,609.30 and Nifty settling 10 points lower at 9,029.05.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices. The S&P BSE Midcap index was up 1.2 percent while the S&P BSE Smallcap index closed with gains of 0.63 percent.

According to pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 8,963.25, followed by 8,897.45. If the index moves up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 9,128.25 and 9,227.45.

US stocks closed higher on Tuesday on optimism about the development of coronavirus vaccines and a revival of business activity, but the S&P 500 failed to hold above the key psychological level of 3,000 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 529.95 points, or 2.17%, to 24,995.11, the S&P 500 gained 36.32 points, or 1.23%, to 2,991.77, and the Nasdaq Composite added 15.63 points, or 0.17%, to 9,340.22.

Asian shares shed some of their recent gains on Wednesday as investor concerns about rising tensions between the United States and China tempered optimism about a re-opening of the world economy.

The Nikkei share average slipped 0.1%, unwinding some of the gains made on Tuesday when it climbed to their highest in nearly 12 weeks. Australia's ASX 200 lost 0.9% in early trade and South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.2%.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 54 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 9076 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday on revived concerns over how quickly fuel demand will recover even as coronavirus lockdowns begin to ease in many countries, while U.S.-China tensions added to negative sentiment.

Brent crude futures fell 21 cents, or 0.6%, to $35.96 by 0120 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 31 cents, or 0.9%, at $34.04 a barrel.

Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday issued uniform guidelines to be followed by stock exchanges while identifying and selecting a location as a delivery centre for commodity derivatives contracts. The decision has been taken based on the recommendations of Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee (CDAC) and in consultation with the stock exchanges.

Sebi said that delivery centre, whether basis or additional, plays an important role in the pricing and settlement of the physically delivered commodity derivatives contract. The choice of delivery centre is of vital importance to help the buyers/sellers in taking informed decisions about taking or giving deliveries.

Economic activity across India has taken a hit due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses and industries have remained shuttered for over two months now amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown. Even as restrictions have been eased across some parts of the country, especially with respect to domestic travel and business operations, states with a higher case burden are struggling to deal with the crisis.

India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is set to fall off the cliff and contract 5 percent this fiscal, Crisil said. The first quarter of FY21, it said, will witness a staggering 25 percent contraction (on-year). It also noted that going back to the pre-pandemic growth rates is unlikely in the next three fiscals despite policy support, with an estimated permanent loss of 10 percent to the country's real GDP (under the base case).

The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) on Tuesday launched Agri Futures Index, which traded a total of 418 lots and Rs 21 crore volume on the first day. Agri Futures Index (Agridex) traded 102 lots with around Rs 5 crore volume at around 1130 hours, NCDEX said in a statement.

With a base value of 1,000, Agridex will be available initially for trading of contracts expiring in June, July, September and December. The cash-settled agri index has 10 leading liquid contracts including soybean, chana, coriander, cottonseed oil cake, guargum, guar seed, mustard seed, refined soy oil, castor seed and jeera.

The mutual fund industry has added nearly seven lakh investor accounts in April, taking the total folio tally to 9.04 crore, amid volatility in broader markets. According to data, the number of folios with 44 fund houses rose to 9,04,28,589 at the end of April, from 8,97,46,051 in the end of March, registering a gain of 6,82,538 folios.

Of the total 9.04 crore investors account, the number of folios under equity, hybrid and solution-oriented schemes, wherein the maximum investment is from the retail segment stood at about 8 crore.

Sun Pharmaceutical, Dabur India, Ujjivan Financial Services, Aditya Birla Fashion, Vaibhav Global, Tube Investments, Tata Investment Corporation, Rane Holdings, Saksoft, Quess Corp, KPIT Technologies, United Spirits, JSW Holdings, Jaiprakash Associates, India Grid Trust, Heritage Foods, Compucom Software, Foseco India.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,716.13 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), too, bought shares worth Rs 2,841.09 crore in the Indian equity market on May 26, provisional data available on the NSE showed.