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

Bulls went on a rampage on the first day of the truncated week. The Nifty 50 surpassed the psychological 11,500-mark at the opening of trade on August 20, extended the rally through the day and closed above 11,550 levels for the first time, forming a bullish candle on the daily charts.

It was a broad-based based rally and driven majorly by banking & financials, metals and auto stocks. Positive global cues and recovery in the rupee also boosted investors’ sentiment.

India VIX fell by 0.28 percent to 13.12 levels and overall lower volatility suggests tight grip of the bulls in the market.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,512.57, followed by 11,473.33. If the index starts moving upwards, key resistance levels to watch out are 11,578.17 and 11,604.53.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 28,274.25, up 145.70 points on Monday. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 28,189.84, followed by 28,105.47. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 28,340.44, followed by 28,406.67.

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.

Wall Street rises on trade optimism

Wall Street’s major indexes rose on Monday on optimism over trade talks between the United States and China, though they fell from session highs after President Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve’s raising interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.37 points, or 0.35 percent, to 25,758.69, the S&P 500 gained 6.92 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,857.05 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.68 points, or 0.06 percent, to 7,821.01.

Asia stocks capped, Nikkei trades lower

Asian stocks were capped and the dollar dipped on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump accused China and Europe of manipulating their currencies and said he was “not thrilled” with the Federal Reserve for hiking interest rates.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.02 percent. Australian stocks lost 0.7 percent, South Korea's KOSPI nudged up 0.1 percent and Japan's Nikkei fell 0.6 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat to negative opening for the broader index in India, a loss of 13 points or 0.11 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,571- level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Oil edges up on US sanctions against Iran, but trade dispute weighs

Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, supported by expectations of supply cuts once US sanctions against Iran bite in November, but capped by worries a Sino-US trade dispute will drag on fuel demand growth.

Brent crude oil futures were at USD 72.24 per barrel at 0104 GMT, up 3 cents from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 24 cents, or 0.4 percent, at USD 66.67 per barrel.

Trump doesn't expect much from China trade talks this week

US President Donald Trump does not expect much progress from trade talks with China this week in Washington, he told Reuters on Monday. Trump said in an interview that he had “no time frame” for ending the trade dispute with China, which threatens to impose tariffs on virtually all goods traded between the world’s two largest economies. “I’m like them; I have a long horizon,” he added.

The talks this week come as new US tariffs on USD 16 billion of Chinese goods take effect at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) on Thursday, along with retaliatory tariffs from Beijing on an equal amount of US goods.

The US Trade Representative’s Office also is holding hearings this week on proposals for tariffs on a further USD 200 billion of Chinese goods that will start to directly hit consumer products.

Enact new law to enable public credit registry: RBI’s Viral Acharya

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Viral Acharya on Monday said there is a need to enact a new law to bring the public credit registry (PCR) under its purview. A new PCR Act will ensure transparency in data acquisition and dissemination through access rights by various users, Acharya said during a skype session at the Ficci-IBA conference.

“It is desirable to have a special comprehensive legislation overriding the prohibitions contained in all other legislations on sharing of information required for PCR. Otherwise, all such legislations will have to be amended separately, providing an exemption for sharing of information with PCR,” said Acharya.

Trump says 'most likely' to meet North Korea's Kim again

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would “most likely” meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while defending his efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. In an interview with Reuters, Trump, who held a landmark summit with Kim on June 12, said he believed North Korea had taken specific steps toward denuclearisation, despite widespread doubts about Kim’s willingness to abandon his arsenal.

“I stopped (North Korea’s) nuclear testing. I stopped (North Korea’s) missile testing. Japan is thrilled. What’s going to happen? Who knows? We’re going to see,” he said.

Rupee rebounds from life lows, up 33 paise at 69.82

The Indian rupee yesterday made a strong comeback from its life-time low and ended with a stellar 33 paise gain at 69.82 on heavy dollar unwinding and a robust rally in domestic equities. This is the biggest one-day vault against the American currency in seven weeks.

After a seemingly endless stream of gloomy news and falling values, sentiment has finally started to show signs of improvement globally against the backdrop of the upcoming visit of Chinese delegates to the US in order to re-engage in trade talks.

The domestic currency touched a high of 69.59 in early deals. Staging a smart recovery, the rupee opened with a gap up at 69.83 against last Thursday's close of 70.15 at the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market.

India's outperformance could cause FPI flows to return: Morgan Stanley

India has been "remarkably resilient" in the recent turmoil in emerging market equities largely driven by macro stability, low policy uncertainty, improving growth and domestic flows, says a Morgan Stanley report. According to the global brokerage firm, though foreign investors have trimmed their stake, the domestic equity market's out performance could cause FPI flows to return.

"Domestic equity flows are in the midst of a structural uptrend and though FPIs have trimmed their India weight to 2011 lows, "India's outperformance could cause FPI flows to return," Morgan Stanley said in a research note.

Fall in rupee rate will have limited impact on India's sovereign credit rating: Fitch

The weakening in the rupee is likely to have a limited impact on India’s sovereign credit profile, ratings agency Fitch said in a report. Although India’s foreign reserves have dipped by USD 24 billion since mid-April 2018, the country still has reserves to cover 7.2 months of current account payments if Reserve Bank of India (RBI) felt the need to intervene on a larger scale.

"Relatively strong external finances, especially the low level of external debt," also support India’s credit profile. The agency cautioned that the weakening of the rupee will put pressure on banking and corporate sectors.

Trump demands Fed help on economy, complains about interest rate rises

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was “not thrilled” with the Federal Reserve under his own appointee, Chairman Jerome Powell, for raising interest rates and said the US central bank should do more to help him to boost the economy.

“I’m not thrilled with his raising of interest rates, no. I’m not thrilled,” Trump said, referring to Powell. Trump nominated Powell last year to replace former Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

EPFO payroll data: 47 lakh jobs created in 10 months till June

Retirement fund body EPFO's payroll data suggests that as many as 47.13 lakh jobs created during September 2017 to June this year. However, the retirement body lowered earlier estimate of new members enrolment by 12.38 per cent, from 44.74 lakh to 39.20 lakh member for September 2017-May 2018 period.

According to the payroll data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for September-May, as many as 44.74 lakh new member were enrolled for its social security schemes to provide benefits, including provident fund, insurance and pension.

RIL pips TCS once again to become most valued firm

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) yesterday pipped Tata Consultancy Services to become India's most valued company in terms of market capitalisation. At the end of trade on BSE today, RIL commanded a market capitalisation of Rs 7,82,636.38 crore, while India's largest IT firm by revenue TCS slipped to the second spot with a market capitalisation of Rs 7,69,696.75 crore.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.

Route Mobile gets Sebi nod for Rs 600 crore IPO

Route Mobile has received markets regulator Sebi's approval to raise an estimated Rs 600 crore through an initial share sale. Incorporated in 2004, Route is among the leading cloud communication platform service providers to enterprises, over the top players and mobile network operators.

The company had filed draft papers with Sebi in January, seeking its clearance to float an initial public offer (IPO) and received its "observations" on August 16, as per the latest update with the markets regulator.

3 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 21, Adani Power, Raymond and Jain Irrigation Systems are present in this list.