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

The Indian market is likely to reclaim 12000 levels on Wednesday tracking positive trend seen in other Asian markets.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India, with a 40.50 points loss or 0.34 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around 12,059-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Let’s look at the final tally on D-Street on February 18 – the S&P BSE Sensex fell 161 points to 40,894 while the Nifty50 closed with losses of 53 points at 11,992 on Tuesday.

Tracking the momentum, more than 200 stocks on the BSE hit a fresh 52-week low which includes names like Gillette India, Hero MotoCorp, IndusInd Bank, Sobha, ITC, Everest Industries, and Marico, etc. among others.

Sectorally, the action was seen in IT, oil & gas, public sector, capital goods, and healthcare stocks while profit-taking was visible in telecom, metals, auto, realty, FMCG and banking stocks.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets:

The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday after a sales warning from Apple left investors assessing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on U.S. companies.

The world’s most valuable technology firm said it would fall short of its recently announced quarterly sales target because of slower iPhone production and weaker demand in China due to the virus. Its shares ended down 1.8% at $319, while its low of the session was $314.61, said a Reuters report.

Asian Markets

Asian shares and US stock futures edged cautiously higher on Wednesday as investors tried to shake off worries about the coronavirus epidemic following a slight decline in the number of new cases.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.01%. Australian shares were up 0.14%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index rose 0.61%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India, with a 40.50 points loss or 0.34 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around 12,059-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

The outbreak of the virus in China has hit India’s manufacturing and exports of medicines, electronic, textile and chemicals as China is the biggest source of intermediate goods, worth $30 billion a year, according to a presentation by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), seen by Reuters.

After being shown the presentation on Tuesday, Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government would announce measures in the coming days after discussing them with other ministries and the prime minister’s office. She did not elaborate on the measures.

Sitharaman met more than 200 business leaders to assess the impact of the coronavirus and discuss plans to contain the damage.

Govt may give reprieve to solar projects delayed by coronavirus fallout

India will consider extending deadlines for completing solar energy projects to shield developers from stiff penalties after the coronavirus outbreak hit component supplies from China, a top government official said on Tuesday.

India buys about 80% of its solar modules from China, which has shut down some factories, restricted transport and implemented other measures to combat the spread of the virus that has killed 1,868 people in China and infected 72,436 others.

Market regulator Sebi on Tuesday levied a total fine of Rs 59 lakh on nine companies for indulging in fraudulent trading in the scrip of Turbotech Engineering Ltd. Radison Properties, Natural Housing, Topwell Properties, South Asia Portfolios, Kingfisher Properties, Janvi Tanvi Shares Traders, Safed Sales, Shivkhori Construction and Spice Merchants are the nine companies on whom the fine has been levied.

HDFC Bank, the most valuable Indian lender, completed 25 years on Tuesday. The bank observed the anniversary celebrations by committing to plant 25 lakh trees and also digitise 2,500 classrooms.

Shree Cement will replace private lender Yes Bank in the benchmark index Nifty 50 from March 27, NSE Indices, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), said on Tuesday.

Further, Vodafone Idea, Ashok Leyland, Indiabulls Housing Finance, L&T Finance Holdings and Shree Cement will be dropped from Nifty Next 50, NSE Indices said in a statement.

Mutual fund distributors, independent financial advisers (IFAs), and wealth managers are awaiting clarity on the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) decision on Registered Investment Advisers (RIA).

In a board meet held on February 17, SEBI ruled that IFAs and wealth managers will not be allowed to use nomenclature like ‘independent financial advisers’ (IFAs) and ‘wealth managers’ without registering with SEBI as RIAs.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India is likely to file a red herring prospectus for the IPO of SBI Cards and Payment Services with the Registrar of Companies (ROC) on February 18, according to a CNBC-TV18 report.

The report quoted unnamed sources stating the Initial Public Offering (IPO) is expected to be launched between March 2-5 , and the total dilution could be around 14 percent through public offer.

The Indian rupee tumbled by 24 paise to settle at 71.56 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday as concerns over the economic fallout from coronavirus outbreak continued to roil forex market sentiment. Besides, sustained foreign fund outflows and subdued equities also put pressure on the rupee.

On the institutional front, FPIs were net sellers in Indian markets for Rs 74 cr while the DIIs were also net sellers to the tune of Rs 309 cr, provisional data showed.