Market Movers: What changed for D-Street while you were sleeping

NEW DELHI: Real estate stocks will be in focus on Thursday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a Rs 25,000 crore relief package for the sector. A number of companies scheduled to announce their quarterly numbers will also see stock-specific actions.

Here’s breaking down the pre-market actions.

TRADE SETUP

Singapore trading sets stage for flat start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 2.50 points, or 0.02 per cent, higher at 12,010, indicating a flat start for Dalal Street.

Tech view: Nifty forms bullish candle
Nifty50 settled above the 11,950 mark on Wednesday and formed a bullish candle on the daily chart. Such a candle after days of indecisive candle formation suggests the bulls were not ready to give in. But for any decisive move, the 11,850-12,000 range needs to be broken on a closing basis.

Asian markets near multi-month peaks
Asian shares paused near multi-month peaks on Thursday while bonds eked out a bounce as reports of delays in sealing a preliminary Sino-US trade deal left investors frustrated at the lack of concrete progress. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a shade lower, just off a six-month high hit earlier in the week. Japan's Nikkei started in the red, while South Korean stocks were 0.3 per cent down.

US stocks settled mixed
US stocks ended mixed, with the Dow little changed, as Wall Street digested decreased US labour productivity in the third quarter and a speech of Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index was down 0.07 points, or 0.0003 per cent, to 27,492.56 on Thursday. The S&P 500 increased 2.16 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 3,076.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 24.05 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 8,410.63,

Oil prices unchanged
Oil prices were unchanged, holding on to most of their losses from the previous session, on worries that a long-awaited interim deal to dial back a crippling U.S.-China trade war could be delayed. Brent crude futures were flat at $61.74 a barrel. Prices fell $1.22, or almost 2 per cent on Wednesday.

Sun Pharma, DLF to announce Q2 results
BPCL, Sun Pharma, DLF, Power Grid, HPCL, UPL, Adani Transmission, United Breweries, IGL and UCO Bank are among some of the firms that will declare Q2 earnings later in the day.

FIIs buy Rs 1,011 crore worth stocks
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,011 crore on Wednesday, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,117 crore, data suggests.

MONEY MARKETS

Rupee: Snapping its three-session winning streak, the Indian rupee tumbled 28 paise to close at 70.97 against the US dollar on Wednesday as continuing uncertainty over the US-China trade deal affected currency market sentiment worldwide.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond yield fell 0.40 cent to 6.49, after trading in 6.49-6.52 range.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average was 5.04 per cent, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 3.70-5.25 per cent.

The DAY PLANNER

Q2 earnings: BPCL | DLF | EIL | HPCL | IGL | AB Capital | Andhra Bank | Max India | Thomas Cook | Uco Bank
US Fed Williams speech
China Oct forex reserves
BoE interest rate decision & QE
England MPC meeting minutes
US Nov initial job loss claims

MACROS

Rs 25,000 cr fund to address realty distress
In a huge relief for affected homebuyers, the government has cleared a Rs 25,000 crore alternative investment fund (AIF) in which the government will contribute Rs 10,000 crore. The special window will also get investments from institutions like LIC and the SBI which will take the corpus to Rs 25,000 crore. The fund will be open to other sovereign funds to add to the corpus. he move is expected to cheer up those who have been affected by the stalled housingNSE 1.39 % projects and provide relief to a slump-hit sector amid slowing consumption.

Trump-Xi trade summit may slip to December
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may not be able to sign a partial trade deal until December, and two US locations have been ruled out for their highly anticipated meeting, reports Bloomberg. The two sides have been trying to negotiate a limited trade deal that would entail the US dropping some tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for Beijing resuming purchases of American farm goods and other products.

Fitch raises India's FY20 deficit forecast to 3.6%
Fitch Solutions on Wednesday raised India's fiscal deficit forecast to 3.6% of the GDP for this fiscal year, from 3.4% previously, due to weak revenue collections resulting from sluggish economic growth and government's sweeping corporate tax rate cut. Fitch said it was revising the fiscal deficit forecast as revenue collection is likely to fall far short of the projections in the FY2019/20 Union Budget due to weak GST and corporate tax collections.

IMF seeks transparency on India's fiscal math
New Delhi needs to become more "transparent" on the fiscal numbers as it is a "laggard" among the G20 peers on this front, a senior official from the International Monetary Fund said here on Wednesday. The government has been missing its budgeted fiscal targets for the past few years and there is a need for a "credible fiscal consolidation" which is more ambitious as well, the official said, adding this is more so as government has not addressed how it will make up for the massive Rs 1.45 lakh crore tax giveaways in the form of corporate tax cuts. The comments come amid allegations of the budget math not adding up with some pointing to a Rs 1.7 lakh crore hole in the estimates,

India’s oil and gas output down
Domestic production of crude oil and natural gas has fallen by 6% and 1.5%, respectively, in the first half of the current fiscal year, further increasing dependence on imports to meet rising demand. India’s oil demand growth too has slowed to 1.4% in the April-July period, compared to 3.5% in the same period last year, but a sharper decline in production has increased reliance on imports.

Union agri secy under scanner in DHFL scam
The probe into the Rs 2,267-crore DHFL scam in Uttar Pradesh is set to get bigger with two senior IAS officers, Union agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarawal and chairman of the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) Alok Kumar, coming under the scanner. Agarawal, the agriculture secretary since October last year, was the chairman of UPPCL as well as the UP Power Employees Trust from 2013 till May 2017. According to the initial investigation, Agarawal and four other officers signed on the decision to invest in the debt-ridden DHFL at a meeting held on March 22, 2017. Three of these officers have been arrested, including the former UPPCL managing director AP Mishra, while the fourth official is no more.

Make core investment cos more transparent: RBI panel
Reserve Bank of India working group has suggested a simplified structure for core investment companies (CIC) with fewer layers, restrictions on capital investments and stronger board structure with at least 50% independent directors. The group also recommended formation of board level committees for audit and remuneration for CICs as well as group risk management committees to address concerns over corporate governance compromised over the years with opaque ownership structures in large conglomerates.