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

The stock market started April series on a positive note on March 29, after a stellar run in the month during which benchmark indices rallied more than 7 percent.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 127.19 points to close at 38,672.91 while Nifty50 rose 53.90 points to 11,623.90 and formed pin bar candle on daily charts.

For the week, the Nifty50 rallied 1.4 percent, forming bullish candle on weekly charts and is 2 percent away from its record high of 11,760 touched in August 2018.

According to the Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,585.97, followed by 11,548.03. If the index starts moving upward, key resistance levels to watch out are 11,646.07 and 11,668.23.

The Nifty Bank index closed at 30,426.80, up 6.25 points on March 29. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 30,275.41, followed by 30,124.0. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 30,538.71, followed by 30,650.6.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a gist of important stories from across news agencies.

Trade hopes lift Wall Street; S&P 500 notches best quarter since 2009

optimism over the latest round of trade talks between the United States and China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.22 points, or 0.82 percent, to 25,928.68, the S&P 500 gained 18.96 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,834.4 and the Nasdaq Composite added 60.16 points, or 0.78 percent, to 7,729.32.

Asia lifted as Wall Street climbs on trade developments

Asian stocks rose on Monday, as signs of progress in US-China trade talks and firmer Wall Street shares supported sentiment, although another defeat for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal added to the pound’s recent woes.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.35 percent. Australian stocks climbed 0.85 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.1 percent and Japan’s Nikkei advanced 1.6 percent.

SGX Nifty

A gap-up opening is likely as Nifty Futures on Singaporean Exchange were trading over 47 points higher. The futures traded around 11,723-odd levels.

Oil prices rise, adding to biggest quarterly gain in 10 years

Oil prices rose on Monday, adding to gains in the first quarter when the major benchmarks posted their biggest increases in nearly a decade, as concerns about supplies outweigh fears of a slowing global economy.

Brent crude for June delivery was up by 34 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $67.92 a barrel by 0055 GMT, having risen 27 percent in the first quarter. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 30 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $60.44 barrel, after posting a rise of 32 percent in the January-March period.

Rupee rebounds 16 paise to 69.14 vs USD

The rupee appreciated by 16 paise on Friday to close at 69.14 against the US dollar on persistent foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities. A positive trend in the global equity markets, driven by optimism surrounding the ongoing US-China trade talks, also propped up the rupee, analysts said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic unit opened strong at 69.20 but surrendered the gains to slip to a low of 69.32.

CAD widens to 2.5% of GDP in Q3

The country's current account deficit widened to 2.5 per cent of GDP in third quarter of the current fiscal from 2.1 per cent a year ago, primarily on account of a higher trade deficit, the RBI said Friday.

In absolute terms, the CAD, or the gap between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange in the current account, was $16.9 billion in the October-December 2018 period, up from $13.7 billion in the year-ago period. The deficit, however, had moderated to $19.1 billion or 2.9 per cent of GDP in the preceding quarter (July-September).

Fiscal deficit crosses 134% of budget estimate at Feb-end

The country's fiscal deficit touched 134.2 per cent of the full-year revised budgeted estimate at the end of February 2019, mainly due to tepid growth in revenue collections, official data showed Friday.

In absolute term, fiscal deficit for April-February 2018-19 was Rs 8.51 lakh crore as against the revised estimate (RE) of Rs 6.34 lakh crore for the entire year, according to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data.

However, Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said that the government is committed to restrict the fiscal deficit at 3.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as envisaged in the Budget.

Forex kitty continues to swell, crosses $406.7 bn

India's foreign exchange reserves continued to surge for the third week in a row, adding $1.029 billion at $406.667 billion in the week to March 22, according to the Reserve Bank data. Forex reserves had increased by $3.6 billion to $405.6 billion in the previous reporting week driven by an increase in foreign currency assets.

For the reporting week, foreign currency assets -- a major component of the overall reserves -- increased by $1.031 billion to $378.805 billion, the RBI said Friday. The reserves had touched a life-time high of $426.028 billion in the week to April 13, 2018. Since then, the reserve kitty has been sliding as the rupee came under pressure.

RBI may go for 25 bps rate cut on April 4

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut key lending rates by another 25 basis points on March 4 to boost economic activities amid fears of global slowdown impacting domestic growth prospects, experts said.

The RBI had reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points in February after a gap of 18 months. A back-to-back cut in interest rate would provide relief to borrowers in the election season. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will meet for three days in Mumbai and announce the decision on interest rate on April 4.

China March factory activity grows for first time in four months

Factory activity in China unexpectedly grew for the first time in four months in March, an official survey showed on March 31, suggesting government stimulus measures may be starting to take hold. If sustained, the improvement in business conditions could suggest the ailing manufacturing sector is on a path to recovery, easing fears that China could slip into a sharper economic downturn.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in March from February's three-year low of 49.2, marking the first expansion in four months, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on March 31. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Govt to borrow Rs 4.42 lakh crore via G-Secs in H1 FY20

The government is looking to raise Rs 4.42 lakh crore through market borrowings in the first half of 2019-20, finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on March 29.

"The government will raise Rs 17,000 per week for 26 weeks," Garg said. The borrowing planned in the April-September 2019 period is nearly 54 percent higher than the Rs 2.88 lakh crore borrowed in the same period in financial year 2018-19.

The government’s gross borrowing for the year is pegged at Rs 7.10 lakh crore, while net borrowings are seen at Rs 4.23 lakh crore.

NSE-SGX to get nod to launch trading from Gujarat IFSC in two months: Sources

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) are expected to get an approval from their country’s respective securities regulator in the next two months to jointly launch financial products from NSE’s IFSC exchange in GIFT City, Gujarat, sources told Moneycontrol.

The two exchanges started a discussion on launching a joint venture after the NSE, along with BSE and MSEI, in February 2018 announced that they would stop sharing data feeds with the SGX, based on which it operates Nifty and Indian stock futures in Singapore. As part of subsequent arbitration proceedings, the Bombay High Court had allowed SGX to continue to operate trading on the Indian products till December 2020.

Embassy Office Parks REIT to debut today

Embassy Office Parks, the country's first real estate investment trust (REIT), launched by Blackstone and Embassy Group, will make a debut on April 1, 2019. The issue, which opened for subscription during March 18-20, was subscribed 2.57 times at the end of the three-day bidding process, helping the firm raise Rs 4,750 crore.

According to the exchange data, the issue received bids for 18,34,76,000 units against the total issue size of 7,12,56,400 units. The issue was in the price band of Rs 299-300 per unit.

Three 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 April 1, Adani Power, IDBI Bank and Reliance Power are present in this list.