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

The market closed sharply lower with the Sensex falling 300 points on Tuesday as the Reserve Bank's decision to boost lending failed to impress investors.

Weak global cues and correction in technology stocks on rupee recovery also hit market sentiment.

The index closed way below its 200-day moving average, down 107.20 points at 10,656.20 and formed 'Bearish Belt Hold' kind of pattern on the daily charts.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,617.73, followed by 10,579.27. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,717.73 and then 10,779.27.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 26,113.35, down 187.35 points on Tuesday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,016.93, followed by 25,920.57. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 26,234.53, followed by 26,355.77.

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.

Wall Street sells off again as retail, energy struggle

US stocks sold off for a second day on Tuesday as energy shares dropped with oil prices, and retailers including Target and Kohl’s sank after weak earnings and forecasts, fueling worries about economic growth.

The Nasdaq closed at its lowest level in more than seven months while the S&P 500 and Dow ended at their lowest since late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 551.8 points, or 2.21 percent, to 24,465.64, the S&P 500 lost 48.84 points, or 1.82 percent, to 2,641.89 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 119.65 points, or 1.7 percent, to 6,908.82.

Asia stocks fall

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday, weighed by a renewed bout of selling on Wall Street, and crude oil struggled after a sharp slide as economic growth concerns gripped global markets.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.55 percent. Australian stocks lost 1 percent and Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 9.5 points or 0.09 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,660-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Oil prices stabilise after 6% slump

US oil prices stabilised on Wednesday after slumping more than 6 percent the previous day, with some support coming from a report of an unexpected drop in US commercial crude inventories.

But investors remained on edge, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) warning of unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets due to a difficult economic environment and political risk.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.57 per barrel at 0028 GMT, up 14 cents from their last settlement. Front-month Brent crude oil futures had yet to trade.

GDP growth may ease to 7.2% in Jul-Sep on sluggish economy: ICRA

After the strong upswing in April-June quarter, GDP growth for July-September is expected to dip to 7.2 percent due to sluggishness in agriculture and industry, a report said.

It can be noted that the GDP had grown by a higher than expected 8.2 percent in the first quarter of the fiscal as compared to the year-ago period. Official data on quarterly growth will be released at the end of this month.

The dip in the growth number will be largely on account of a pull down from industry where growth is expected to slow down to 7.1 percent in the September quarter as compared to 10.3 percent in June and the farm sector, which may slow down to 3.5 percent from 5.3 percent, domestic rating agency ICRA said in a report.

Rupee gains for 6th straight session, rises 21 paise

The rupee rose by 21 paise to end at 71.46 against the US dollar on November 20 on increased selling of the greenback by exporters amid softening crude oil prices, and persistent foreign fund inflows.

This is the sixth straight session of gains for the domestic unit as the US dollar weakened against some currencies overseas. In the last six trading sessions, the rupee has gained 143 paise.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the rupee opened on a firm note at 71.39. It gained further ground to hit a high of 71.27, following dollar selling by exporters.

Bitcoin crashes to lowest this year, losses top 25% in a week

Bitcoin slumped on Tuesday to its lowest this year, tumbling as much as 10 percent to breach $4,300 and taking losses in the world’s best-known digital coin to 25 percent within a week. Other smaller coins also skidded sharply as a broader cryptocurrency sell-off, said by traders and market makers to be rooted in heavy selling at leveraged Asian exchanges, gathered steam.

Bitcoin sunk as far as $4,327, its lowest since October 2017. By mid-afternoon, it was trading around $4,750 on the Bitstamp exchange.

Delisting: SEBI allows promoters to make counter offer

Markets regulator SEBI has allowed promoters to make counter offer to shareholders of companies that are planning to delist from stock exchanges, a move aimed at plugging loopholes in the current method. The SEBI has put in place a system for price discovery as per reverse book building (RRB) method, along with considering counter offer of promoter.

Under the new rules, the promoter will be allowed to make counter offer to the shareholders. If the counter offer is lucrative to the shareholders and if it is accepted, delisting will be treated successful.

Confident of achieving FY19 divestment target: FinMin source

The Finance Ministry is confident of achieving the disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore set for the current fiscal, a Finance Ministry source told Moneycontrol. With the ongoing volatile equity markets, economy watchers feel the government may miss the target by a large margin unless some alternative steps are pursued in right earnest.

Any shortfall in disinvestment target would only further worsen the fiscal deficit situation, weakening investor confidence.

“We will definitely be able to achieve the divestment program. We have reviewed and the (divestment) program will be met through buybacks and direct IPOs,” said a source from the Finance Ministry to a query on disinvestment and whether the government will be able to achieve the target set for this fiscal.

Zircon Tech gets SEBI's go ahead for IPO

Zircon Technologies, engaged in the business of label printing for packaging of products, has received markets regulator SEBI's go ahead to float an initial public offering. With this, the total number of companies getting clearance from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch IPO has reached 70 so far this year.

Going by the draft papers, the company's IPO comprises 59 lakh equity shares. Systematix Corporate Services is the sole book running lead manager to the IPO. The equity shares of the company will be listed on NSE and BSE.

5 stocks under ban period on NSE

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

For November 21, 2018, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, DHFL, Jet Airways and PC Jeweller are present in this list.