What changed for the market while you were sleeping? Top 10 things to know

The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 52.79 points at 36,374.08, driven by technology, select banking & financial and auto stocks. The Nifty50 advanced 14.90 points to close at 10,905.20.

"Looking at the overall open interest activity in index futures for current series, we believe majority of the positions formed are on the long side. In fact, decent amount of longs that has been rolled from December series are also intact in the system. In addition, consistent witting in ATM (at the money) Put is also a good indication for bulls," Sneha Seth, Derivatives Analyst at Angel Broking told Moneycontrol.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,856.37, followed by 10,807.53. If the index starts moving upward, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,942.37 and then 10,979.53.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 27,528.8, up 45.05 points on January 17. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 27,372.13, followed by 27,215.46. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 27,648.53, followed by 27,768.27.

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 report of US considering end to China tariffs

US stocks advanced on Thursday as a published report that the United States was considering lifting tariffs on Chinese imports lifted investor sentiment. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions scheduled for January 30, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the internal deliberations.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 127.84 points, or 0.53 percent, to 24,335, the S&P 500 gained 16.03 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,632.13 and the

Nasdaq Composite added 39.75 points, or 0.56 percent, to 7,074.44.

Asia stocks gain on hopes for eased US-China tension

Asian stocks gained early on Friday, as hopes for a thaw in the US-China trade conflict fed investor appetites for risk assets.The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions scheduled for January 30.

Following Wall Street's lead, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.25 percent. The index has gained nearly 1 percent this week. Australian stocks rose 0.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei gained 0.7 percent.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap up opening for the broader index in India, a rise of 64 points or 0.59 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,984- level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Chinese Vice Premier to visit US on Jan 30, 31 for talks to end trade war

China's Vice Premier and top trade negotiator Liu He will travel to the US on January 30-31 to hold crucial high-level talks as the world's two largest economies are holding negotiations to resolve their bitter trade dispute ahead of a March 2 deadline.

Liu's scheduled visit follows lower-level negotiations held in Beijing last week aimed at resolving the trade war that last year saw the two sides imposing tariffs on more than USD 300 billion in total two-way trade.

China's Commerce Ministry said on January 17 that Vice Premier Liu will travel to the US on January 30-31. He will hold talks with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and review the recent official level talks on a host of issues to work out an agreement to end the trade war.

Oil prices edge up

US oil prices inched higher on Friday after a report from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries showed its production fell sharply last month, easing fears about prolonged oversupply. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.40 per barrel at 0026 GMT, up 32 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their last settlement. WTI futures closed down 0.4 percent on Thursday.

Rupee rises 21 paise against dollar

The Indian rupee reversed its four-day losing streak by recovering 21 paise to close at 71.03 against the US dollar Thursday on increased selling of the

greenback by exporters and lower crude oil prices.

Besides, liquidity infusion by central banks through open market operations and unveiling a RBI new policy for overseas borrowings, allowing all eligible entities to raise foreign funding under the automatic route and removing sectoral curbs, supported the rupee. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened stronger at 71.15 a dollar against the previous close of 70.24. The local unit moved in a range of 70.92 to 71.40, before finally ending at 71.03, showing a gain of 21 paise.

RBI-industry meet: India Inc pitches for rate cut to prop up growth

Ahead of the monetary policy review, India Inc on Thursday urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rate and reserve ratio to prop up growth. In a meeting with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das in Mumbai, industry chambers suggested various measures to ease tight liquidity situation and reduce high cost of credit in the light of consistently falling inflation.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) suggested the policy measures required to ease the tight liquidity situation by effecting a cut in cash reserve ratio (CRR) by at least 50 basis points (bps), measures to facilitate flow of credit to industry, especially to MSMEs and the infrastructure sector, and steps to address the high cost of credit by considering a reduction of 50 bps in repo rate given that inflation has been consistently low, the chamber said in a statement.

India Ratings pegs FY20 GDP growth at 7.5%

The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.5 percent in FY20, a pace similar to the Centre’s growth projection for the current financial year, India Ratings said on January 17.

According to government estimates, India's real or inflation-adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow at 7.2 percent in FY19, implying an average growth of 6.75 percent between October and March, signalling a slowdown amid festering rural distress.

RIL posts record $1.5 billion profit

Reliance Industries reported net profit as well as revenue which were higher than analyst estimates for the quarter-ended December. However, margins came in a bit lower than consensus estimates. Analysts are of the view that the stock is likely to open higher on January 18, and with strong results, it is a strong contender for re-rating.

We will see some significant upgrades happening for RIL beginning Friday for couple of reasons. Analysts will start factoring in FY21 numbers which is just 18 months away.

RIL reported a record net profit of Rs 10,250 crore for the quarter-ended December which was ahead of CNBC-TV18 poll of Rs 9,690 crore led by retail as well as Jio business. The net profit for RIL grew by 7.7 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 8.8 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Reliance Jio has reported profit at Rs 831 crore, higher by 22 percent as compared to Rs 681 crore in previous quarter and 65 percent as compared to a year-ago period. Retail business and Digital Services business recorded an increase of 89 percent and 51 percent, respectively, in revenue during the quarter compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

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

26 companies to report Q3 numbers

On the earnings front, as many as 26 companies will report their results for the quarter ended December which include companies like Atul, Dhanlakshmi Bank, L&T Infotech, NIIT Technologies, Wipro, and Zee Learn etc. among others.

2 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 January 17, Adani Power and Jet Airways is present in this list.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies