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

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the red as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 23 points loss.

The BSE Sensex closed above the psychological level of 49,000, rising 486.81 points or 1 percent to 49,269.32 on January 11 while the Nifty50 climbed 137.50 points to 14,484.80. According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,412.53, followed by 14,340.27. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,527.63 and 14,570.47.

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

Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Monday as investors took some profits after last weeks’ records while they waited for earnings season to begin and eyed events in Washington with trepidation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 89.28 points, or 0.29%, to 31,008.69, the S&P 500 lost 25.07 points, or 0.66%, to 3,799.61 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 165.54 points, or 1.25%, to 13,036.43.

Asian Markets

Asian stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street declines as political turmoil in Washington and rising coronavirus cases worldwide weighed on sentiment ahead of the start of the quarterly earnings season.

Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.48%, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.91% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures lost 0.54%. Defying the broader selloff, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.24%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 23 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,473 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

COVID-19 vaccine | Bharat Biotech to provide 55 lakh Covaxin doses at Rs 295 per dose

Bharat Biotech inked a purchase agreement with the Government of India on January 11 to provide 55 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin at Rs 295 per dose, CNBC-TV18 reported.

The Indian pharma firm will be providing its coronavirus vaccine directly to 12 states, and the process will be completed in two days by January 14. Dispatches will begin from Hyderabad starting January 12, the report said.

Bharat Biotech will be providing 38.5 lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in stage 1 and 16.5 doses in stage 2.

Oil prices sapped by rising virus cases

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as investors remained concerned about climbing coronavirus cases globally, though an anticipated drawdown in crude oil inventory in the United States for a fifth straight week stemmed losses.

Brent crude oil futures slipped by 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $55.57 a barrel by 0135 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell by 8 cents, or 0.2%, to $52.17 a barrel.

Invest more in IT platforms to fortify public confidence in digital transactions: RBI to banks

Banks must invest more in building robust IT platforms to fortify public confidence in digital banking, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das said on January 11.

“More investment is required by all stakeholders for building robust IT platforms and technologies for operational purposes as well as for fortifying public confidence in digital banking, especially when the financial landscape is rapidly embracing new technologies,” Das wrote in the foreword of RBI Financial Stability Report (FSR).

NSE launches derivatives on Nifty Financial Services Index

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday launched derivatives on the Nifty Financial Services Index, which will give more flexibility to institutional as well as retail investors to manage their hedge. This is the first time that the exchange has made available weekly futures for stock index derivatives.

The index consists of 20 stocks and is designed to reflect the behaviour and performance of the Indian financial market, which includes banks, financial institutions, housing finance, insurance companies and other financial services companies.

RBI Financial Stability Report: GNPAs may shoot up to 14.8% by September in worst case

Indian banks' total gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) may rise to 14.8 percent under a severe stress scenario by September 2021 compared with 7.5 percent in the year-ago period, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR) released on January 11.

Under a baseline scenario, the GNPAs of banks may rise to 13.5 percent by September, the report said. The RBI said these numbers were arrived at based on the macro stress tests incorporating the first advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020-21 released on January 7, 2021. “This highlights the need for proactive building up of adequate capital to withstand possible asset quality deterioration,” the RBI said.

More states consider reducing stamp duty to boost real estate sales: Housing Secretary

Following in the footsteps of Maharashtra and Karnataka, more states are considering reducing stamp duty to boost real estate sales, Housing Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra has said. “Besides Maharashtra and Karnataka that have reduced stamp duties, some more states are seriously considering doing the same,” he told reporters.

To boost sluggish sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre has time and again suggested states to reduce stamp duty.

RBI FSR report cautions growing disconnect between financial markets and real sector

The growing disconnect between certain segment of financial markets and real sector has widened further since the publication of last financial stability report (FSR), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on January 11.

“The growing disconnect between certain segments of financial markets and real sector activity, pointed out in the last FSR, has got further accentuated during the interregnum, with abundant liquidity spurring a reach for returns,” the latest FSR report said.

COVID-19 impact: Govt not to print Budget documents this year

The voluminous Budget documents will not be printed this year following the COVID-19 protocol and will instead be distributed electronically to the Members of Parliament (MPs). This will be the first time since the presentation of independent India's first Budget on November 26, 1947, that the documents containing income and expenditure statement of the Union government along with finance bill, detailing new tax and other measures for the new financial year, will not be physically printed.

Due to COVID-19, it has been decided not to print documents related to the Union Budget for the fiscal beginning April (FY 2021-22), sources said.

Twitter shares slump 8% after Donald Trump account suspension

Twitter's German-listed shares slumped as much as 8 percent on Monday, the first trading day after it permanently suspended US President Donald Trump's account late on Friday. The company said suspension of Trump's account, which had more than 88 million followers, was due to the risk of further violence, following the storming of the US Capitol on Wednesday..

Results on January 12

Karnataka Bank, Tata Elxsi, Steel Strips Wheels, Filatex India, Hathway Bhawani Cabletel, HPL Electric & Power, Indbank Merchant Banking Services, Ind Bank Housing, ATV Projects India, Continental Securities, Mideast Integrated Steels, Trade Wings, Vikas Multicorp will announce their quarterly earnings on January 12.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 3,138.9 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,610.13 crore in the Indian equity market on January 11, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

1 stock under F&O ban on NSE

SAIL is under the F&O ban for January 12. 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