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

Benchmark indices fell sharply for the second consecutive session on July 8 as bears further tightened their grip on Dalal Street after the Budget amid weak global cues. The BSE Sensex plunged 792.82 points or 2.01 percent to 38,720.57 while the Nifty 50 dipped 252.60 points or 2.14 percent to 11,558.60 and formed large bearish candle on daily charts.

Investors' wealth eroded by around Rs 5 lakh crore in two trading sessions. The market breadth was largely in favour of bears as three shares declined for every share rising on the BSE. All sectoral indices closed in the red with Nifty PSU Bank falling most with a loss of 6 percent. The Nifty Midcap index was down 2.7 percent and Smallcap index fell 2.4 percent.

According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 11,463.96, followed by 11,369.33. If the index starts moving upward, the key resistance levels to watch out are 11,712.57 and 11,866.53.

Nifty Bank closed at 30,603.85, down 871.95 points on July 8. The important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 30,303.6, followed by 30,003.4. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 31,137.2, followed by 31,670.6.

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 Markets

US stocks fell on Monday as Apple shares dropped following a broker downgrade and investors continued to weigh chances of an aggressive interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 115.98 points, or 0.43 percent, to 26,806.14, the S&P 500 lost 14.46 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,975.95 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 63.41 points, or 0.78 percent, to 8,098.38.

Asian Markets

Asian stocks struggled to rebound on Tuesday as investors came to terms with sharply reduced expectations the Federal Reserve will deliver a large interest rate cut at the end of July. Those views were bolstered after solid gains in US jobs for June and pushed down Wall Street for the second straight day.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up 0.1 percent in early trade, after falling 0.6 percent the previous day. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5 percent thanks in part to the yen’s retreat against the dollar.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a fall of 14 points or 0.12 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 11,554-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Oil prices drop as trade tensions stoke economy worries

Oil fell on Tuesday amid worries over the outlook for demand after the latest signs that international trade disputes have been dragging on the global economy, although tensions in the Middle East offered some support to prices.

Brent crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, at USD 63.90 a barrel by 0022 GMT. They fell 12 cents on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, at USD 57.46 a barrel. They rose 15 cents in the previous session.

Rupee drops 24 paise to 68.66 against US dollar

The rupee July 8 declined by 24 paise to close at 68.66 against the US dollar, cutting short its three winning run due to a massive selloff in equities and weakening expectations of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in near future. Foreign institutional investors pulled out Rs 401.99 crore Monday, hitting the rupee sentiment.

The rupee opened lower at 68.49 from the last close of 68.42 at the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market. The local unit lost further ground to touch a session low of 68.76 before closing at 68.66, marking a fall of 24 paise over its previous close. The rupee on Friday settled 8 paise higher at 68.42 against the dollar.

Govt aims to raise $2.18 bn by cutting stakes in 18 firms to 75%: Source

The government aims to raise up to USD 2.18 billion by reducing its stake in 18 state firms to 75 percent, a finance ministry official involved in the matter said on Monday, as it looks to boost revenues and rein in the fiscal deficit.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set an ambitious target of USD 15.33 billion from the sale of stakes in state-run companies, compared with Rs 850 billion the previous year, in her budget on Friday for the fiscal year that began on April 1.

While a third of the divestment target will be met by the outright sale of state enterprises, including Air India, the other sales will be done through a rule under which all listed entities must have a public float of at least 25 percent after three years of listing.

Care Ratings sees massive fall in credit quality metrics in Q1

In what is illustrative of the deepening slowdown, Care Ratings has seen a massive deterioration in the credit quality of the entities it tracks during the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The modified credit ratio, or the number of upgrades to downgrades, has slipped to a six-year

low of 0.8 during the June quarter, the agency said July 8.

The number of upgrades to downgrades ratio had been hovering around the ideal level of 1 for over a year and stood at 1.02 in the March quarter. The agency, however, did not mention the number of companies it rates or the number of rating actions.

Liquid funds witness highest outflows in June; equity funds see inflows

The mutual fund industry witnessed the highest outflows of Rs 1.5 lakh crore among income and debt schemes in the month of June, according to the data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). Last month, credit risk funds continued to register outflows. The category

registered outflows worth Rs 2,694 crore.

Mutual fund managers attributed the fall in liquid funds to quarter-end phenomenon while credit risk funds suffered on the back of the recent credit risk events. "This is a usual quarter-end phenomena where the industry does witness temporary redemptions from liquid funds,” said NS

Venkatesh, Chief Executive Officer, AMFI.

MFs go on shopping spree after sharp fall in equity market

Mutual funds went ahead and added more to their cart after the stock market took a tumble of over 2 percent on July 8. "Mutual funds were buying shares of PSBs, electronics and construction stocks," said an institutional broker.

Another broker said that fund houses were buying shares of SBI, Voltas and Avenue Supermarts. However, he said, mutual funds were not buying large quantity of shares. "They (MFs) were not buying aggressively in the market as they are skeptical of the market movement," the broker said.

Two stocks under F&O ban period on NSE

For July 9, DHFL and Reliance Capital are under the F&O ban period. Securities in ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies

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