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

The Indian market remained on the volatile track and gave up all gains of the morning session, following a negative opening in the European markets.

Sensex ended 173 points, or 0.58 percent, lower at 29,893.96 while Nifty settled 43 points, or 0.49 percent, down at 8,748.75.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed the benchmark Sensex, closing with strong gains of 1.90 percent and 1.86 percent, respectively.

According to the pivot charts, the key support level for Nifty is placed at 8,557.87, followed by 8,366.98. If the index starts moving up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 9,035.67 and 9,322.58.

Nifty Bank closed 0.61 percent down at 18,946.45. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 18,178.17, followed by 17,409.93. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 20,019.37 and 21,092.33.

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

US stock markets jumped on Wednesday on hopeful signs about the coronavirus outbreak in the United States was close to a peak, with health insurers getting an additional lift from Bernie Sanders’ decision to suspend his presidential campaign.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 779.71 points, or 3.44%, to 23,433.57, the S&P 500 gained 90.57 points, or 3.41%, to 2,749.98 and the Nasdaq Composite added 203.64 points, or 2.58%, to 8,090.90.

Asian Markets

Asian shares were poised to track Wall Street’s gains on Thursday on hopes the coronavirus pandemic is nearing a peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus measures.

Rising US stocks on Wednesday had lifted the MSCI’s index of global equities more than 2% despite pressure on European shares after euro zone finance ministers failed to agree on more support for their coronavirus-hit economies. Hong Kong futures rose and Australian shares were set to open higher. Nikkei futures rose and were trading above the Nikkei 225 index’s previous close.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 111 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 8,752 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Indian equities to recover 14% this fiscal: UBS Securities

Swiss brokerage UBS Securities on Wednesday said it expects an over 14 per cent jump in the equity markets in the current fiscal in the base case scenario, despite the heavy sell-offs that have dominated in the recent past due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It can be noted that the Indian equity markets have corrected by nearly 25 per cent in the last two months, ever since the onset of the pandemic in China and as it grew to other countries of the world.

The brokerage said it expects the NSE's 50-share benchmark Nifty to be at 10,000 points by March 2021 in the base case scenario, 11,500 points in the upside scenario and go down to 6,000 points if the downside risks play out.

Goldman Sachs says India’s FY21 GDP may plummet to a multi-decade low of 1.6%

Economic growth is likely to plummet to a multi-decade low of 1.6 per cent in fiscal year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing measures like lockdowns and social distancing, an American brokerage said on Wednesday in one of the bleakest forecasts on GDP yet. Indian policymakers have not been aggressive enough in their response till now to the crisis, and will need to eventually intensify their efforts, economists at Goldman Sachs said.

"Despite the policy support so far, and our expectations of more, we believe that the nationwide shutdown, and rising public anxiety about the virus are likely to lead to a sharp deterioration in economic activity in March, and in the next quarter," it said.

Crude futures climb ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Crude futures rose on Thursday on expectations the world’s largest oil producers would agree to cut production at a meeting later in the day as the industry grapples with the coronavirus-driven collapse in global oil demand.

Brent crude futures rose 2.5%, or 81 cents, to $33.65 as of 0034 GMT after touching a high of $33.90, adding to gains in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 4.3%, or $1.08, at $26.17, having climbed as much as 6%.

Govt to soon issue guidelines for real estate sector

The government will soon issue guidelines and regulatory measures to help the real estate sector in dealing with the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said on April 8.

With construction work on projects suspended because of the nationwide lockdown, he asked builders to help the labourers working on their sites. In a series of tweets, the secretary said he held discussions with 2,600 leading real estate developers through a video conference. These developers are part of realtors' body Naredco.

Economists pitch for Rs 3 lakh crore additional package to tide over COVID-19 crisis

Economists at SBI on April 8 said a bulk of the Rs 1.75 lakh crore coronavirus aid package announced by the Secludes budgeted elements and pitched for a Rs 3 lakh crore top-up to help the economy tide over the COVID-19-related challenges. Only Rs 73,000 crore of the Rs 1.75 lakh crore package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month is fresh money as the rest was already budgeted for, the economists said, adding a "large fiscal package" for affected industries" is necessary at this point.

Some analysts believe GDP growth will come at 2 per cent for FY21. "... given labour and capital income loss of around Rs 3.60 lakh crore, the minimum subsistence fiscal package must be scaled up by Rs 3 lakh crore, over and above the incremental Rs 73,000 crore that was unleashed in the first phase," an SBI economist said in a note.

COVID-19 intensifies headwinds for NBFCs, may need Rs 10,000-20,000 cr boost

Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), an integral component of the Indian lending ecosystem apart from banks, could see a major impact of COVID-19 on their liquidity position and asset quality in the financial year 2020-21. Before the coronavirus outbreak, RBI and the government took several measures to support NBFCs since August 2019, especially after the IL&FS credit crisis created serious headwinds in September 2018.

Hence, with the improved liquidity conditions and solid business franchise, the entire NBFC space was looking to return to comfortable levels in the second half of FY20, but the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, spread clipped the recovery. As a result, there could be further disruption in the economy. Many experts feel it may take at least 3-6 months for the entire ecosystem to get on track.

Second India COVID-19 stimulus to focus on aid to small business

A second stimulus package India is poised to announce in coming days will be worth around Rs 1 lakh crore ($13 billion) and focus on help for small and medium businesses weathering the coronavirus outbreak, two senior officials said on Wednesday. "The second package could be focussed largely on MSMEs," one of the senior government officials, with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters, using an acronym for micro, small and medium enterprises.

The official said a separate package could be announced for bigger companies after assessing the extent of the hit they have faced due to the lockdown imposed to fight the outbreak.

Fuel demand seen falling 40% in April: Report

The fuel demand, which witnessed a fall by around 20 percent in March amid the lockdown, likely to decline further to 40 percent in April, impacting pricing and increasing borrowing cost for oil marketing companies, according to a report. The three-week national lockdown ending April 14 has seen individuals remaining indoors, shops and businesses shut, and vehicular movement, including the Railways, airlines, trucks and private vehicles, remaining off the roads.

According to a report by India Ratings, the overall demand for fuel has come down by around 20 percent, while capacity utilization levels have fallen to 50 percent in March.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,943.41 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares of worth Rs 1,757.79 crore in the Indian equity market on April 8, provisional data available on the NSE showed.