What changed for the market while you were sleeping? Top 15 things to know

After a positive start, the Nifty50 traded in a range of 70 points throughout the session and closed mildly lower Thursday, forming a bearish candle on the daily charts.

The index remained below its psychological 11,000-mark and registered a bearish candle for the second consecutive session today. Not only frontline but also Nifty Midcap index ended lower for the second day in a row, losing 0.7 percent. In fact, all sectoral indices closed in the red except FMCG.

The current rangebound trade indicated the market eagerly awaits more corporate earnings data to get direction on either side by breaking the range of 10,925-11,080 levels, experts said.

The 50-share NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,999.50 and hit an intraday high of 11,006.50, but immediately wiped out those gains to trade in a tight range of 70 points. The index touched day's low of 10,935.45, before closing 23.40 points lower at 10,957.10.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,926.23, followed by 10,895.37. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,997.23 and 11,037.37.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 26,789.65, down 91.25 points on Thursday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,671.4, followed by 26,553.1. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 26,966.7, followed by 27,143.7.

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.

US stocks dropped on Thursday after earnings disappointed and trade jitters escalated over worries that the European Union could slap retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from the United States. Officials from the EU Trade Commission, due in Washington next week for trade talks, are said to be preparing a list of tit-for-tat actions in response to proposed US tariffs on EU cars.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 134.79 points, or 0.53 percent, to 25,064.5, the S&P 500 lost 11.13 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,804.49 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 29.15 points, or 0.37 percent, to 7,825.30.

Asian stocks eked out modest gains on Friday as investor caution prevailed amid concerns about the European Union imposing retaliatory tariffs on US goods while US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Federal Reserve policy knocked the dollar.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.1 percent. Australian stocks added 0.5 percent and South Korea's KOSPI edged up 0.07 percent. Japan's Nikkei reversed earlier modest losses to rise 0.2 percent, lifted as the dollar came off lows versus the yen.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 32 points or 0.29 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,945-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Oil prices gained on Friday after Saudi Arabia’s OPEC governor said the kingdom’s exports are likely to fall next month and inventories may be squeezed in the third quarter.

Brent oil rose 22 cents, or 0.3 percent, to USD 72.80 by 0034 GMT, after falling 32 cents on Thursday. US West Texas Intermediate was up 51 cents, or 0.7 percent, at USD 69.97, extending a 1 percent gain in the previous session.

President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn, the White House said on Thursday, a daring rebuttal to the torrent of criticism in the United States over Trump’s failure to publicly confront Putin at their first summit for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 election.

Both Trump and Putin earlier on Thursday praised their first meeting as a success and blamed forces in the United States for trying to belittle its achievements, Trump citing discussions on counterterrorism, Israel’s security, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace and North Korea.

Japan’s annual core consumer inflation quickened slightly in June, offering some relief for central bank policymakers struggling to find out why a prolonged economic recovery has failed to drive up growth in wages and prices.

The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 0.8 percent in June from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast. It followed a 0.7 percent increase in May.

NSE Chairman Ashok Chawla has been named in a fresh charge sheet filed on July 19 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Aircel-Maxis case. Chawla is the former Secretary of Economic Affairs.

The charge sheet filed at Delhi’s Patiala House Court names former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram as accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal. Overall, the CBI has named 18 individuals under section 120-B read with section 7, 12, 13(2) read with 13(1) D of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

An acquisition following a scheme of arrangement not involving the target company would be exempt from open offer obligation in case the cash and its equivalent is less than 25 percent of the total consideration paid in the scheme, according to Sebi.

Besides, the open offer obligation would also not be triggered if after the implementation of the scheme of arrangement, persons directly or indirectly holding at least 33 percent of the voting rights in the combined entity are the same as those who held the entire voting rights prior to its execution. Expressing its views on an application filed by Force Motors' promoter Jaya Hind Industries, the regulator said the scheme of arrangement should not involve the target firm as a transferor or a transferee company. It should also follow an order of a court or a tribunal or any competent authority.

The country's current account deficit (CAD) is set to widen and the first quarter print may come in at USD 16-17 billion or 2.5 percent of GDP, says an Icra report, adding for the full year the gap may scale a six-year high of USD 67-72 billion.

In the June quarter of FY18, CAD, which is the difference between forex earned and expended, was USD 15 billion, and for the full year of FY18 it stood at 1.9 percent of the GDP, Icra said in its report yesterday. Factoring in an average crude price of USD 75 a barrel in FY19 against USD 56 in FY18 and a 6 percent rise in net imports, net oil imports are likely to rise to USD 98-100 billion in FY19 from USD 69 billion in FY18.

India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy, ahead of China, with 7.3 percent growth rate in 2018-19 and 7.6 percent in 2019-20, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday.

The growth in India will be driven by increased public spending, higher capacity utilisation rate and uptick in private investment, said its supplement to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO). While retaining India's growth rate for current fiscal and the next, ADO said economic growth in China will decelerate to 6.6 percent in 2018 and further to 6.4 percent in 2019. China's growth rate was 6.9 percent in 2017.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, hitting its lowest level in more than 48-1/2 years, as the labor market continues to strengthen.

Other data on Thursday showed manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region accelerated in July, driven by a surge in new orders received by factories. But manufacturers reported paying more for inputs. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 220,000 in the latest week.

The second straight weekly decline in claims, however, likely reflects difficulties adjusting the data for seasonal fluctuations around this time of the year when motor vehicle manufacturers shut assembly lines for annual retooling.

To increase the institutional participation in the commodity segment, Sebi today said it will soon finalise the guidelines to allow mutual funds (MFs) to invest in commodity derivatives segment.

The markets regulator said it will also frame warehousing norms for non-agriculture commodities and will consider allowing 'indices' once its robustness is established by the bourses.

The rupee yesterday took a hard 43-paise knock to close below the 69 level for the first time at a historic low of 69.05 against the US currency as upbeat comments on the US economy by the Federal Reserve chairman drove the greenback to one-year high levels higher against global currencies. This is the biggest single-day fall since May 29 and goes hand in hand with a stronger US dollar.

Traders and speculators saw no signs of intervention by monetary authorities into the foreign exchange market to support the local currency, pushing the Indian currency down to a low of 69.07 in day trade. The rupee had touched an all-time low intra-day low of 69.10 on June 28 but had recovered later on suspected RBI intervention.

As many as 26 companies are likely to report June quarter numbers including names like Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Ceat, Bata India, Havells India, Just Dial and MCX India among others.

Bajaj Auto is likely to post a double digit rise in net profit for the quarter ended June on the back of a surge in exports. According a Reuters poll of 18 analysts, the Pune-based maker of two and three-wheeler is seen reporting a 37 percent year-on-year rise in its standalone net profit to Rs 1,261 crore for the quarter under review.

Its revenue is expected to come in at Rs 7,842 crore, around 34 percent higher than in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

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

For July 20, Adani Enterprises and Adani Power are present in this list.