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

Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Monday as investors bet on some of the market’s most high-profile stocks ahead of earnings reports while they weighed progress in US government stimulus efforts against rising US COVID-19 cases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 114.88 points, or 0.43%, to 26,584.77, the S&P 500 gained 23.78 points, or 0.74%, to 3,239.41 and the Nasdaq Composite added 173.09 points, or 1.67%, to 10,536.27.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Asia Pacific were higher in Tuesday morning trade as investors continued to monitor developments on the coronavirus front. Nikkei rose 0.39% while the Topix index advanced 0.27%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 61 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,180 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices rise on U.S. stimulus hopes, weaker U.S. dollar

Oil prices rose for a third straight day on Tuesday, buoyed by support for demand coming from efforts to stimulate the U.S. economy’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis and a weakening of the dollar that makes crude cheaper for global buyers.

Brent crude futures climbed 35 cents, or 0.8%, to $43.76 a barrel at 0118 GMT, adding to a 0.2% gain on Monday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 27 cents, or 0.7%, to $41.87 a barrel, building on a 0.75% rise on Monday.

Gold rockets toward $2,000 as Fed stimulus sinks dollar

Gold rocketed to record peaks at $1,975 on Tuesday while the U.S. dollar plumbed two-year lows as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would reaffirm its super-easy policy outlook this week, and a tolerance for higher inflation.

SEBI extends relaxation in procedural requirements for open, buyback offers

Markets regulator SEBI on Monday extended relaxation in procedural requirements for listed entities with respect to open and buyback offers till December 31 amid coronavirus pandemic. The regulator, in May, had granted one-time relaxations from strict enforcement of SAST (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations and norms for buyback of securities through open and buyback tender offers opening till July 31.

"Based on representations received from the market participants, the validity of relaxations...is further extended and shall be applicable for open offers and buy-back through tender offers opening up to December 31, 2020," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a circular.

Construction equipment sales volume decline 70% in April-June: CRISIL

As construction activities came to a screeching halt due to COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, construction equipment sales volume witnessed a sharp 70 percent fall in April-June 2020 quarter, CRISIL Research said.

According to the ratings agency, volume would decline on-year this fiscal, especially since public spending will be diverted towards healthcare and public welfare. "With the COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown bringing construction activity to a halt and labourers trudging back to the presumed safety of their native place, construction equipment sales volume has nosedived 70 percent on-year in the first quarter, and utilisation has nearly halved," the agency said.

SEBI launches one-time settlement scheme in illiquid stock option cases

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on July 27 introduced a one-time settlement scheme for entities that executed trade reversals in the stock options segment of BSE from April 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015.

“It was observed that there were several entities who consistently made significant losses, whereas there were others who consistently made significant profit by executing reversal trades in stock options on the BSE,” the market regulator said in a circular.

Mindspace Business Parks REIT IPO subscribed 38% on Day 1

Mindspace Business Parks REIT's initial public offering has subscribed 38 percent on July 27, the first day of bidding. The public issue has received bids for 2,59,22,800 units against offer size of 6,77,46,400 (excluding strategic and anchor investors' book), the data available on the exchanges showed.

The reserved portion of institutional investors was subscribed 37 percent and that of non-institutional investors 40 percent. The IPO consists of a fresh issue of Rs 1,000 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 3,500 crore; of which the company already raised Rs 2,643.74 crore from strategic and anchor investors. Hence the net issue now stood at Rs 1,856.26 crore.

Indian economy to see V-shaped recovery in Q3 and Q4, says NK Singh

The 15th Finance Commission Chairman NK Singh on July 27 said India will see a sharp V-shaped recovery in the third and fourth quarter of the current fiscal, but FY21 GDP growth would ultimately be in negative territory as the coronavirus lockdown led to serious demand and supply dislocations.

"This pandemic has led to enormous economic consequences by way of lockdown which brought serious dislocation both on demand and supply sides...," Singh said at an AIMA event.

"Q1 and Q2 will not be lofty performances to say the least, I think Q3 and Q4 of the current fiscal year, there would be a very sharp V-shaped recovery, not necessarily that anything fundamental will happen or may happen but because of a lower base. Nonetheless, fiscal year as a whole would end on a negative trajectory," he added.

Results on July 28

UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, IDBI Bank, IDFC First Bank, RBL Bank, Castrol India, Hexaware Technologies, 3i Infotech, Adhunik Metaliks, Greenlam Industries, HT Media, Max Ventures, Mirza International, NIIT Technologies, Quess Corp, Sanofi India, Sunteck Realty, Tata Coffee, Welspun Corp, etc.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 453.31 crore and Rs 977.88 crore, respectively, in the Indian equity market on July 27, provisional data available on the NSE showed.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies