NEW DELHI: As Asian markets took a breather in early trade on Monday, all eyes will be on whether a strong start to the domestic earnings season can lift sentiment at Dalal Street.
Heres breaking down the pre-market actions.TRADE SETUPSingapore trading sets stage for firm startNifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 31.50 points, or 0.26 per cent, higher at 12,322.50, indicating a firm start for Dalal Street.Tech view: Nifty may enter consolidate phaseNifty50 closed above the 12,250 level on Friday after making an all-time high of 12,311.
On the daily chart, the index made a bearish candle, as it failed to capitalise on the gap-up start.
Analysts said Fridays rise lacked conviction and the index may now go into a consolidation phase.Asian stocks take a pauseAsian shares paused near 19-month peaks on Monday ahead of the expected signing on a Sino-U.S.
trade deal, though talks on a phase two package are likely to drag on for months.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan barely budged, having hit the highest since mid-2018 last week.
Japan's Nikkei was closed for a holiday.
E-Mini futures for the S-P 500 edged up 0.1%, to be just off all-time highs.US markets settled lower on FridayUS stocks finished lower on Friday, giving up earlier gains, as investors digested the weaker-than-expected jobs data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index shed 133.13 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 28,823.77.
The S-P500 index decreased 9.35 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 3,265.35.
The Nasdaq Composite index fell 24.57 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 9,178.86.Oil prices inch lowerOil prices edged down on Monday as fears of conflict between the United States and Iran eased, although the decline was checked by the planned signing of an initial US-China trade deal this week, which could boost demand.
Brent crude was down 13 cents, or 0.2 per cent, at $64.85 per barrelInfy likely to see positive startInfosys audit committee's clean chit to the top leadership, including CEO Salil Parekh, in the whistleblower case will likely give the company's shares a gap-up start on Monday.
Analysts said a 5-10 per cent upside in the stock in the near term cannot be ruled out.
The risk-reward looks favourable for Infosys, which trades at nearly 30 per cent discount to peer TCS, said HDFC Institutional Equities.FPIs buy Rs 578 crore worth stocksNet-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 578 crore on Friday, data available with NSE suggested.
DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 252 crore, data suggests.MONEY MARKETSRupee: The Indian rupee continued its winning run for fourth session in a row, soaring 27 paise to settle at 70.94 to the US dollar as softening crude oil prices lifted forex market sentiment.10-year bonds: India 10-year bond yield rose 0.89 per cent to 6.59 after trading in 6.58-6.66 range.Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average was 4.96 per cent, according to RBI data.
It moved in a range of 3.50-5.25 per cent.
HAPPENING TODAYIndia Dec Inflation RateChina Dec car salesUK Nov Balance of TradeUK Nov GDP GrowthUS-China Trade TalksUK Nov Industrial OutputMACROSDec CPI data to be out todayCPI inflation stood at forty months high of 5.54 per cent in November, up by 92 bps from October.
Increase in CPI was mainly led by lower base of food inflation and uptick in prices of vegetables and pulses.
For December, Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities sees CPI at 6.92 per cent.
While the rise in headlined inflation is led by higher food prices, core inflation is also expected to edge up on account of the telecom tariff hikes in December 2019, it said.
ED seeks possession of Vadra-linked houseThe Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought possession of a house in Delhis Sukhdev Vihar owned by a company linked to businessman Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, alleging that it was bought with the direct proceeds of crime pertaining to the Bikaner land scam case.
It has filed an application urging the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) tribunal to vacate the stay clamped by the appellate authority in August 2019 on any coercive action by the central agency against Vadra and his company, Sky Light Hospitality.
ED had attached the house, registered in the companys name, in February last year.I-T to challenge Tata TrustsThe income-tax department will likely tell the income-tax appellate tribunal that six Tata Trusts wrongfully invested in shares of private companies and acted in breach of the object and purpose specified in their respective trust deeds.
The appeal by the trusts against the department, which cancelled their registrations in October last year, is likely to be heard next month.
The trusts will argue that they were not in violation of the trust deed and had themselves surrendered their registrations in March 2015Walmart India cutting jobsLoss-laden Walmart India is in turmoil as the worlds largest retailer is in the process of sacking about a third of its top executives based at local headquarters in Gurgaon, according to people aware of the development.
Walmart announced the layoffs of more than 100 senior executives including vice presidents across sourcing, agri-business and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) divisions at a townhall on Friday.
It also plans to shut the Mumbai fulfilment centre, its largest warehouse, and halt new-store expansion in India.Foreign carriers can't own Air IndiaOverseas carriers will not be able to bid for more than 49% of Air India and wont get full operational control as the civil aviation ministry has rejected a proposal to relax the Substantial Ownership and Effective Control (SOEC) clause.
The government wants to privatise the state-owned national carrier, having failed to sell stakes in it in 2018.
The official said there was no precedent of any government ceding control of carriers to overseas ones.
No country can afford to lose total control over its airlines, he said.GST e-invoices relief for banksBanks, airlines, insurance companies, armed forces and telecom service providers are likely to be exempted from mandatory issuing of e-invoices under goods and services tax (GST), said people aware of the matter.
"Banks, airlines, telcos and other entities that have direct customer interaction on a large scale may be exempted from filing their e-invoices under GST, said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.Auto industry seeks bold BudgetThe automobile industry has asked the government to take bold fiscal measures to revive the sector that has reported its worst-ever sales decline in two decades during 2019, industry sources said.
In the upcoming Budget, the auto industry has sought measures, such as reduction in GST rates on vehicles and abolition of duty on import of lithiumion battery cells, to encourage electric mobility.No single regime for FPIs, NRIs yetAlmost a year after it was announced, the financial services regulators and the government are yet to figure out how to bring in a single regime for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and nonresident Indians (NRIs) two very different animals, following different rules of investment and taxation.
The challenge is to put in place a neat, unified regime as announced by the finance minister in the last Budget without causing a chaos.Asset woes for continue for NBFCsNon-banking finance companies (NBFCs) recovering from a liquidity crisis will face some asset quality pressures, especially in the auto financing and real estate with large, higher rated companies better prepared to ride the challenges in the quarter ended December 2019.
Analysts said companies like Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd (HDFC), Bajaj Finance and Cholamandalam Finance will continue to take away market shares from their smaller counterparts with better credit profile and access to low cost funds.IIP in positive zone after 3 monthsIndias industrial production expanded at a modest pace in November, reversing three consecutive months of contraction, but many sectors remained in the red.
Industrial growth, as measured by the index of industrial production (IIP), rose 1.8% in November compared with a 3.9% contraction in October, data released on Friday by the statistics office showed, aided by a sharp growth in intermediate goods and a favourable base effect.Govt to seek RBI dividend boostThe government plans to push the central bank for a fiscal lifeline in the form of another interim dividend, as it struggles to meet its expenditure commitments amid a steep revenue shortfall, three sources directly aware of the matter said.
The fresh call comes just months after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved a Rs 1.76 lakh crore ($24.8 billion) dividend payment to the government, including Rs 1.48 lakh crore for the current fiscal year.