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

Nifty, after a choppy trade initially, gained strength in the last couple of hours of trade on March 19 and continued uptrend for the seventh consecutive session to close above psychological 11,500 level for the first time since September 14, 2018.

The index formed a bullish candle, resembling a 'Hanging Man' pattern on the daily chart. In fact, the Hanging Man pattern has been seen in the last two out of five sessions.

A consistent rally brought the market to overbought levels, hence the upside from hereon looks limited, experts said, adding the correction or sideways trade could be possible in coming sessions.

Nifty after opening higher at 11,500 remained volatile and hit an intraday low of 11,451.25, but managed to gain strength in the last couple of hours of trade and hit a day's high of 11,543.85. The index finally closed up 70.20 points at 11,532.40.

Maximum Put open interest (OI) was at 11,000 followed by 11,300 strike and maximum Call OI was at 11,500 followed by 11,600 strike. Meaningful Put writing was at 11,500 followed by 11,400 strike while Call unwinding was at all the immediate strikes with minor Call Writing at 11,800 strike. Option band signifies a shift in a higher trading range between 11,400 and 11,700 zones.

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.

The benchmark S&P 500 index ended little changed on Tuesday as investor optimism regarding the Federal Reserve’s expected affirmation of its dovish policy stance was offset by reports of fault lines emerging in ongoing US-China trade negotiations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 25,887.38, the S&P 500 lost 0.37 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,832.57 and the Nasdaq Composite added 9.47 points, or 0.12 percent, to 7,723.95.

Asian shares got off to a cautious start on Wednesday, holding close to six-month highs on hopes the US Federal Reserve will stick to a dovish stance and unveil a plan to stop cutting bond holdings later this year.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked down 0.1 percent from a six-month high touched the previous day. Japan’s Nikkei was also down 0.1 percent.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 3.5 points or 0.03 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,572-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, retreating from a four-month high, as concerns that trade talks between the United States and China have stalled, stoking fears over the outlook for global economic growth.

International Brent crude oil futures were at $67.49 a barrel at 0107 GMT, down 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. Brent touched $68.20 a barrel on Tuesday, its highest since November 16.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.86 per barrel, down 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement. WTI hit a high of $59.57 a barrel on Tuesday, the highest since November 12.

Halting its six-day winning run, the Indian rupee Tuesday edged lower by 43 paise to close at 68.96 to the US dollar on emergence of demand for the

greenback from importers. The local currency also came under pressure due to rising crude pressure and a caution ahead of the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the domestic currency opened at 68.53 a dollar and fell further to touch the day's low of 69.05. It finally settled at 68.96 per dollar, down 43 paise over its previous close.

A senior US arms control official said on March 19 that the only way for North Korea to achieve security and development is to abandon all of its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes.

Yleem Poblete, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, urged countries to halt any weapons or military cooperation with North Korea. "You are violating UN Security Council resolutions that explicitly prohibit such transfers," she said.

Markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday said it has inked pact with Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India to effectively implement securities laws, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The pact provides for sharing of information with each other, subject to the limitations imposed by the applicable laws. Moreover, the pact involves appointment of panel of insolvency professionals (IPs) as administrators under relevant regulations, the release said.

"Sebi and IBBI being interested in the effective implementation of securities laws and IBC... have agreed under the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to co-operate with each other," the release said.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das March 19 said: 'robust' expenditure was also important along with fiscal consolidation and it was equally vital to undertake a 'code' to do so.

"There is now general agreement in the country about the importance of fiscal consolidation roadmap both at national and sub-national levels," Das said. "While adhering to fiscal deficit targets and debt to GDP ratios, it is equally important to undertake robust expenditure planning based on a commonly agreed expenditure code to address the socio-economic challenges without diluting the goals of fiscal consolidation."

CPSE Exchange Traded Fund on Tuesday received bids worth Rs 6,072 crore from as many as 16 anchor investors, with the portion getting subscribed nearly 6 times, sources said.

The fifth tranche of the CPSE ETF opened for subscription Tuesday, wherein the government seeks to raise at least Rs 3,500 crore. CPSE ETF anchor book

has been subscribed 5.78 times against the anchor base issue size of Rs 1,050 crore, sources said. The ETF has received applications worth Rs 6,072 crore, they added.

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 March 20, Adani Enterprises, BEML, IDBI Bank, Jet Airways, Just Dial, Reliance Capital and Reliance Power are present in this list.