What changed for the market while you were sleeping? Top 12 things to know

The Nifty 50 rebounded from two-day losses Tuesday and extended the rally on August 14 despite volatility in the rupee, which breached the 70 to a US dollar-mark.

The index closed decisively above the psychological 11,400 levels despite mixed global cues, forming bullish candle on the daily candlestick charts.

The broad-based rally saw all sectoral indices end in the green with pharma leading the charge with a 3 percent rise. The broader markets also participated in the up move, with the Nifty Midcap index rising a percent.

After opening higher at 11,381.70, the Nifty extended gains as the day progressed and crossed 11,400 levels to hit an intraday high of 11,452.45. The index closed 79.30 points higher at 11,435.10.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,386.43, followed by 11,337.77. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 11,468.13 and 11,501.17.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 28,021.70, up 227.30 points on Tuesday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 27,900.04, followed by 27,778.37. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 28,098.24, followed by 28,174.77.

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 drop on downbeat earnings, trade tensions

Wall Street fell in a day of heavy trading on Wednesday with the S&P 500 posting its biggest percentage drop since late June as investors turned risk-averse on disappointing earnings and escalating global tariff worries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 137.51 points, or 0.54 percent, to 25,162.41, the S&P 500 lost 21.59 points, or 0.76 percent, to 2,818.37 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 96.78 points, or 1.23 percent, to 7,774.12.

Asian markets fall

Asian shares declined on Thursday, following Wall Street after Chinese company Tencent reported a fall in quarterly profit. The Nikkei 225 fell by 1.38 percent with all sectors in Tokyo recording losses, as the oil and coal producers saw the largest decline of 5.3 percent. South Korea's Kospi declined by 1.40 percent while the ASX 200 saw a relatively smaller drop of 0.68 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 37.5 points or 0.33 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,406-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Rupee close at 69.89/$ after falling to an all-time low of 70.08

After falling to a historic low of 70.08 to the US dollar during the day, the rupee on Tuesday ended at 69.89, up 2 paise from its previous close of 69.91.

Weakness in Turkish currency (lira), along with panic among importers led to the selloff in the Indian currency, analysts that Moneycontrol spoke to, said. At 70.08 per US dollar, the currency witnessed a depreciation of depreciated 10 percent in 2018 so far. It had opened marginally higher at 69.85 against the greenback.

The currency had breached psychological mark of 70 per US dollar in the morning session. However, a possible intervention by the central bank, helped it to recover as well.

Comfortable forex reserves to deal with undue rupee volatility: Jaitley

Union Minister Arun Jaitley said India has comfortable foreign exchange reserves to deal with any undue volatility in the currency market and developments are being closely monitored. The Indian currency on Tuesday crashed to a life-time low of 70.09 on concerns over Turkey's economic woes that have impacted various emerging markets, even as the US dollar gained strength against other currencies.

"India's foreign exchange reserves are comfortable by global standards and sufficient to mitigate any undue volatility in the foreign exchange market," Jaitley said.

Equity MFs log Rs 10,585 cr inflow in July

Investors pumped a staggering Rs 10,585 crore in equity mutual funds in July, mainly driven by strong corporate earnings and near normal monsoon. With this, total inflow has reached to over Rs 43,300 crore in equities during the current financial year (April-July), according to the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

Strong inflow pushed the asset base of equity mutual funds (MFs) by more than 10 percent to Rs 8.3 lakh crore by July-end from Rs 7.5 lakh crore at end-March. According to Amfi data, equity and equity-linked saving schemes saw an inflow of Rs 12,409 crore in April, Rs 12,070 crore in May, Rs 8,237 crore in June and Rs 10,585 crore in July.

Gold prices sink to 19-month low amid strong dollar

Gold prices shed over one percent on Thursday to hit their lowest in more than 19 months, with the US dollar holding steady near a recent peak as concerns about a Turkey crisis and China’s economic health weighed on emerging market currencies.

Spot gold was down 0.8 percent at USD 1,164.71 an ounce, as of 0055 GMT. Earlier in the session, the bullion fell as much as 1.2 percent to USD 1,159.96, its lowest since January 2017. US gold futures were down 1.1 percent at USD 1,172.7 an ounce.

Sebi plans to stipulate framework for timely disclosure of loan default

Markets regulator Sebi is looking to stipulate a framework for timely and detailed disclosures of loan defaults by listed entities to enhance transparency. Several companies and rating agencies have come under the regulatory scanner for failing to make timely disclosure about the loan default risks.

Tightening of the disclosure norms is aimed at helping banks to recognise their stressed assets as non-performing more uniformly and enhance transparency in the securities market. "Sebi aims at examining stipulation of timely and detailed disclosures pertaining to defaults on debt obligations by listed entities to enhance transparency," the regulator said in its annual report for 2017-18.

India’s trade deficit sinks to over four-year low of $18.02 bn on shrinking imports

India’s trade deficit in July came in at USD 18.02 billion, compared to USD 16.60 billion in June. A fall in imports led the deficit to a four-year low. A fall in imports to USD 43.79 billion in July from USD 44.30 billion in June was offset by a contraction in exports to $25.77 billion in July from USD 27.70 billion in June.

Among imports, oil stood at USD 12.35 billion while non-oil imports were valued at USD 31.44 billion. Gold imports in July improved to USD 2.96 billion.

CPI inflation to average 4.4% this fiscal: Report

Retail inflation is expected to average 4.4 percent this financial year, up from 3.6 percent recorded in the last fiscal, says a Kotak Economic Research report. According to the report, CPI inflation is expected to remain at sub 5 percent level but uncertainties in domestic, global front could impact its trajectory.

"We expect CPI inflation to stay broadly capped at 5 percent in FY2019," Kotak Economic Research said in a note, adding, "we expect CPI inflation to average 4.4 percent in FY2019 (3.6 per cent in FY2018)".

The factors that are likely to impact inflation number going forward include volatility in the global financial markets, oil prices, MSP pass through and staggered impact of HRA increases by states.

Sebi panel suggests confidentiality clause in settlement mechanism

A high level Sebi panel has proposed a confidentiality clause in the settlement mechanism, wherein identity of the applicant will not be disclosed, in order to garner information of defaults as well as possible violations from defaulters in the securities.

It has recommended that even the settlement order in cases of settlement with confidentiality will need to be published. However, the identity of the applicant may not be disclosed.

BSE to launch liquidity enhancement plan on single stock options, index options from Sept

BSE will launch liquidity enhancement scheme on monthly single stock options and index options from next month. Under the liquidity enhancement scheme (LES), brokers and other market intermediaries are given incentives for a specified period of time to bring in liquidity and generate investor interest in securities which have limited trading activity.

"The exchange shall be launching the liquidity enhancement scheme on monthly single stock options and index options of equity derivative segment with effect from September 1, 2018," BSE said in a notice.

RBI puts 200 stressed accounts under scanner

As part of its effort to contain rising non-performing assets (NPAs), the RBI has started scrutiny of 200 large accounts to assess level of stress and provisioning done against them by respective banks.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is examining as to whether banks have followed prudential norms in respect of these stressed assets, a senior public sector bank official said. It is also assessing classification, provisioning and debt recast in respect of those loans, the official added.

4 stocks under ban period on NSE

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 August 16, Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, Jet Airways and Punjab National Bank are present in this list.