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

The Indian stock market is expected to open on a positive note following robust gains in Asian markets. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-up opening for the index with a 105 points gain.

The S&P BSE Sensex wiped out gains made during the past week and closed with a minor cut of 0.4 percent while the Nifty50 fell 0.3 percent for the week ended August 14. The S&P BSE Mid-cap index rose 1.5 percent, and the S&P BSE Small-cap index closed with gains of 1.3 percent for the week ended August 14.

According to pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 11,071.2, followed by 10,964. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,325.9 and 11,473.4.

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 S&P 500 ended nearly flat on Friday despite coming close again to its record closing high, as data on the U.S. economy added to uncertainty over the recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.3 points, or 0.12%, to 27,931.02, the S&P 500 lost 0.58 points, or 0.02%, to 3,372.85 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 23.20 points, or 0.21%, to 11,019.30.

Asian Markets

Asian shares dozed near recent highs in quiet trade on Monday as investors waited to see if the recent sell-off in longer-dated U.S. Treasuries would extend, and maybe take some pressure off the beleaguered dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.02% lower at 562, but still eyeing the January top of 574.52. Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.4% after touching a six-month peak on Friday.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap up opening for the index in India with a 105 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 10,283 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

India's July trade deficit in goods at $4.83 billion: Commerce Ministry

India posted a trade deficit of $4.83 billion in goods in July, after reporting its first trade surplus in over 18 years in the previous month, data released by the government showed on August 14.

Merchandise imports contracted 28.40 percent in July to $28.47 billion from a year ago while exports fell 10.21 percent to $23.64 billion, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday showed. Total merchandise imports fell by more than 46 percent to $88.91 billion during April-July while exports were down 30.21 percent from the year-ago period to $74.96 billion, the data showed.

RBI Board approves transfer of Rs 57,128 crore dividend to government

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) central board has approved the transfer of Rs 57,128 crore in surplus as dividend to the government for the accounting year 2019-20, the central bank said in a release on August 14. The Board also decided to maintain the Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.5 percent.

The Board reviewed the current economic situation, continued global and domestic challenges and the monetary, regulatory and other measures taken by RBI to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 pandemic, the RBI said.

China central bank injects 700 billion yuan of MLF loans, rates steady for fourth month

China’s central bank on Monday rolled over maturing medium-term loans while keeping borrowing costs unchanged for the fourth straight month.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement it was keeping the rate on 700 billion yuan ($100.74 billion) worth of one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans to financial institutions steady at 2.95% from previous operations.

Japan's economy shrinks at record pace as pandemic hits spending

Japan was hit by its biggest economic contraction on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic crushed business and consumer spending, keeping policymakers under pressure for bolder action to prevent the recession from deepening.

Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank an annualised 27.8% in April-June, government data showed on Monday, marking the biggest decline since comparable data became available in 1980.

Govt may not need to infuse fresh capital in PSU banks this fiscal

The government may not have to inject fresh capital into the public sector banks (PSBs) as one-time loan restructuring permitted by the RBI has reduced additional fund requirement by them. Also the poor credit offtake on account of coronavirus pandemic may obliterate the need for significant growth capital during the current fiscal, sources said.

There may not be a sudden surge in non-performing assets (NPAs) after the six months moratorium comes to an end this month as it is followed by one-time loan restructuring, sources said, adding, provisioning requirement is also quite low for the debt recast accounts.

FM Sitharaman pushes large CPSEs to complete 50% of FY21 capex target by September

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 14 exhorted large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to complete 50 percent of their planned capital expenditure target for FY21 by next month to promote economic growth in the backdrop of difficulties posed by COVID-19. She held a video conference with secretaries of the ministries of shipping, road transport and highways, housing and urban affairs, defence and telecom, an official statement said.

She asked the secretaries to closely monitor the performance of CPSEs in order to ensure capital expenditure to the tune of 50 percent of capital outlay by the end of second quarter of 2020-21 and make appropriate plans for it, the statement said.

Bank lending to NBFCs up 190 bps to 8.8% September 2018: CARE Rating

Banks exposure to NBFCs sector grew by 190 basis points to 8.8 percent for the period September 2018 and June 2020, the latest data showed amid increasing requests for more bank loans to the non-banking sector, said CARE Rating in a report.

In total, banks' outstanding to NBFCs increased by 47.1 percent to Rs 7.99 lakh crore in June 2020, from Rs 5.47 lakh crore in September 2018, according to the data collected by the rating agency. However, NBFCs' borrowings from mutual funds have been declining, except in May 2020 when it increased on an annual basis, according to the report.

Sebi fines SBI, LIC, Bank of Baroda for violating mutual fund norms

Markets regulator Sebi on August 14 imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh each on three public sector financial institutions -- SBI, LIC and Bank of Baroda - for not complying with the mutual fund norms.

Sebi observed that State Bank of India (SBI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) are the sponsors of SBI Mutual Fund, LIC Mutual Fund and Baroda Mutual Fund, respectively, and they also hold more than 10 percent stake each in these mutual funds. In addition, LIC, SBI and BoB are also sponsors of UTI AMC and hold more than 10 percent stake individually in the asset management company (AMC) and trustee company of UTI MF.

India's forex reserves rise by $3.623 billion to record $538.191 billion

The country's foreign exchange reserves swelled by $3.623 billion to a record high of $538.191 billion in the week ended August 7, RBI data showed on Friday. In the previous week ended July 31, the reserves had increased by $11.938 billion to reach $534.568 billion.

The reserves had crossed the half-a-trillion mark for the first time in the week ended June 5, 2020, after it had jumped by $8.223 billion to $501.703 billion. In the week ended August 7, the forex kitty rose on the back of gains in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 46.39 crore while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 797.08 crore in the Indian equity market on August 14, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

9 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Bata India, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Vodafone Idea, Manappuram Finance, Steel Authority of India and Vedanta are under the F&O ban for August 17. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.​

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies