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

The market closed higher for the first time in last nine consecutive sessions on Wednesday with the Nifty holding 10,700 levels, backed by positive global cues and relief rally in beaten down sectors.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 403.65 points or 1.14 percent to 35,756.26 while the 50-share NSE Nifty gained 131.10 points or 1.24 percent to close at

10,735.50 and formed bullish candle on the daily charts after nine bearish candles.

The broader markets also traded in line with benchmarks. The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices gained 1 percent each with positive market breadth.

All sectoral indices also closed in the green. Nifty Bank, Metal and IT indices were prominent gainers.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,670.37, followed by 10,605.23. If the index starts moving upward, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,776.67 and then 10,817.83.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 26,955.50, up 270.65 points on February 20. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,796.97, followed by 26,638.43. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 27,049.77, followed by 27,144.04.

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 ends up slightly as Fed minutes support cautious stance

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting reaffirmed for investors that the US central bank would be “patient” with respect to further interest rate hikes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 63.12 points, or 0.24 percent, to 25,954.44, the S&P 500 gained 4.94 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,784.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.30 points, or 0.03 percent, to 7,489.07.

Asia shares steady after Fed minutes

Asian shares held near 4-1/2-month highs on Thursday after US Federal Reserve minutes affirmed it would be “patient” on interest rate rises and risk assets got a lift from hopes of further progress in US-China trade talks.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were steady in early trade, hovering just off their highest since early October. Australian shares gave up early gains, last trading 0.1 percent lower, but the Australian dollar rallied in the wake of strong full-time jobs figure.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 37 points or 0.34 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,730 - level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Fed flags end to balance sheet runoff, patience on rates

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled they will soon lay out a plan to stop letting go of $4 trillion in bonds and other assets, but policymakers are still debating how long their newly adopted “patient” stance on US rates policy will last.

For now, policymakers see little risk to leaving interest rates alone while they take time to assess rising risks, including a global slowdown, according to the Fed’s minutes from their Jan. 29-30 meeting, released on Wednesday.

The surprisingly dovish decision came amid mounting risks to the US economy, including slowing Chinese and European economies and waning stimulus from the 2018 US tax cuts.

Oil near 2019 highs amid OPEC cuts, sanctions on Iran and Venezuela

Oil prices hovered just below 2019 highs on Thursday, bolstered by OPEC-led supply cuts and US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran. US West Texas

Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $57.30 per barrel at 0046 GMT, up 14 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last settlement and not far off their 2019 high of $57.55 reached the previous day.

India to remain fastest growing major economy in next decade: Report

India will remain the fastest growing major economy, much ahead of China, in the next decade 2019-28, according to a global economic research report.

The report prepared by Oxford Economics, which is engaged in global forecasting and quantitative analysis, India is likely to achieve an average growth of 6.5 percent in 2019-28, the highest among the emerging economies.

India will be followed by the Philippines (5.3 per cent) and Indonesia (5.1 percent), the report titled 'Emerging Markets Sustained Growth in EMs Calls for Thrift and Innovation' said. China has been assigned the fourth slot with an average growth rate of 5.1 per cent for the next decade (2019-28).

Rupee spurts 23 paise to 71.11 vs USD

Snapping a four-session downturn, the rupee appreciated by 23 paise to end 71.11 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid easing oil prices and a firm

greenback.

A positive trend in the global equity markets, which rose on optimism surrounding the ongoing US-China trade talks, also supported the rupee, analysts said. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic unit opened strong at 71.29 but surrendered the gains to slip to a low of 71.34.

FinMin expects NPA recovery of Rs 1.80 lakh crore in FY19

With two major cases at the final stage of resolution, the Finance Ministry expects bad loan recoveries to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore during the current fiscal. So far, banks have recovered Rs 1 lakh crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The recovery is expected to touch Rs 1.80 lakh crore by March 2019 with some of the resolutions at the final stage, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said. Lenders are expecting to recover almost Rs 52,000 crore loan in case of Essar Steel while Rs 18,000 crore from Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.

Govt to infuse Rs 48,239 crore in 12 PSU banks

The government on February 20, announced final recapitalisation tranche amount of Rs 48,239 crore for as many as 12 public sector banks, in a bid to take them out of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) prompt corrective action framework.

The 12 banks are Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank, Syndicate Bank, Central Bank, United Bank, UCO Bank and IOB.

In a tweet, Rajeev Kumar, secretary, Department of Financial Services said that the banks would receive the capital to “equip better performing PCA banks to be above regulatory capital threshold, to help banks that are out of PCA to remain so and equip non PCA banks to stay above regulatory norms of PCA”.

EPFO likely to announce 8.55% interest on EPF for FY19

Retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce an interest rate of 8.55 percent on PF deposits for 2018-19, same as provided in 2017-18, to its 6 crore subscribers, a highly placed source said.

"The proposal to declare interest rate for this fiscal is on the agenda of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) trustees meeting on February 21, 2019," a source said.

The source further said, "The interest rate is likely to be retained at 8.55 percent for this fiscal as provided in 2017-18 as Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. However the EPFO's income estimates for 2018-19 has not been circulated among the trustees and will be tabled in the meeting."

Zuari Agro files Letter of Offer with Sebi for Rs 500 cr rights issue

Zuari Agro Chemicals on Wednesday said it has filed a document with the market regulator SEBI to raise Rs 500 crore through rights issue of debentures. In a filing to the BSE, Zuari said the company has filed "Draft Letter of Offer for rights issue with the Securities and Exchange Board of India."

Eight 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 February 21, Adani Enterprises, IDBI Bank, Jet Airways, Kaveri Seed Company, PC Jeweller, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power stocks are present in this list.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies