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 38 points loss.

The BSE Sensex was up 84.31 points at 40,593.80 on October 12 while the Nifty50 gained 16.80 points to close at 11,931. According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 11,858.13, followed by 11,785.27. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 12,012.93 and 12,094.87.

Wall Street surged on Monday, fueled by expectations of a coronavirus relief package and by a rally in Amazon, Apple and other technology stocks ahead quarterly earnings season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.13% at 28,910.08 points, while the S&P 500 gained 2.01% to 3,546.95. The Nasdaq Composite added 3.16% at 11,945.77.

Asian stocks were set to rise on October 13 as a renewed tech rally and fresh optimism that Washington would deliver a coronavirus relief package helped lift global equity markets.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 0.11% higher. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 1.05% in early trading. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures rose 0.11%.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 38 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,930 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices were steady in early trade on October 13, sitting on losses of nearly 3% from the previous session after supplies began to resume in Norway and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Libya resumed production at its largest oilfield.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures inched up 1 cent to $39.44 a barrel at 0117 GMT, while Brent crude futures rose 2 cents to $41.74 a barrel.

Industrial production declined by 8 percent in August, mainly due to lower output of manufacturing, mining and power generation sectors, official data showed on October 12. According to the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data, manufacturing sector production registered a decline of 8.6 percent, while the output of mining and power segments fell 9.8 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

The IIP had contracted by 1.4 percent in August 2019. " It may not be appropriate to compare the IIP in the post pandemic months with the IIP for months preceding the COVID 19 pandemic," the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said in a statement. "With the gradual relaxation of restrictions, there has been a relative improvement in the economic activities by varying degrees as well as in data reporting," it added.

Retail inflation rose to 7.34 percent in September, mainly on account of higher food prices, according to government data. The inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.69 percent in August. It was 3.99 percent in September last year.

The rate of price rise in the food basket was 10.68 percent in September compared to 9.05 percent in August, as per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Monday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on October 12, announced a Leave Travel Concession (LTC) cash voucher scheme to increase consumer spending.

Under this LTC Cash Voucher Scheme, government employees can opt to receive cash amounting to leave encashment, plus three times ticket fare, to buy items which attract a GST of 12 percent or more. Only digital transactions allowed, GST invoice to be produced, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said.

"Every four years, central government employees get LTC to any destination to their choice plus one to their hometown. Since travel is difficult to undertake during the pandemic, the government will pay the entitled fare as cash vouchers which have to be spent by March 31, 2021," she said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has rejigged the portfolios of deputy governors following the appointment of M Rajeshwar Rao as the new deputy governor. The recently appointed deputy governor, who was appointed following the retirement of NS Vishwanathan, has been given the charge of department of regulation, inspection, enforcement, legal and risk monitoring.

According to the central bank’s website, Kanungo will handle the most number of portfolios. These include co-ordination, currency management, external investments and operations, department of government and bank accounts, information technology, payments and settlements, foreign exchange, internal debt management and right to information.

Telecom industry Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is expected to see a 'structural uptrend' through a mix of tariff hikes, either regulator or market driven, as well as higher data usage post-COVID-19, a report said on October 12.

The note by JM Financial titled `A tale of supremacy, defence and survival’ said with consolidation of India’s telecom industry largely complete, the wireless industry’s revenue is expected to double to about Rs 2,60,000 crore by 2024-25 as ARPU hike looks "inevitable".

”…we expect the wireless industry’s revenue to double to Rs 2,600 billion by FY25… as an ARPU hike looks inevitable given the industry’s future investment needs requires an ARPU of Rs 230-250 by FY25… for a pre-tax RoCE (return on capital employed) of 12-15 per cent to justify capex; and to avoid a duopoly market VIL needs APRU of at least Rs 190-200 by FY23 to survive,” said the report.

Karnataka Bank, Tata Steel Long Products, California Software and Rudra Global Infra Products will announce quarterly earnings on October 13.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 615.17 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,028.77 crore in the Indian equity market on October 12, as per provisional data available on the NSE.