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

Indian markets remained volatile on June 25 while traders rolled over their positions from June series to July series. Muted global trends also kept sentiment low. The S&P BSE Sensex failed to close above 35,000 while the Nifty50 ended a shade below 10,300.

On June 25, the Sensex fell 26 points to close at 34,842 while the Nifty50 ends at 10,288, 16 points down.

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

Wall Street’s main indeces closed higher in choppy trading on Thursday, with bank stocks soaring ahead of annual stress test results and helping to offset investor jitters over alarming increases in new coronavirus cases.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 299.66 points, or 1.18%, to 25,745.6, the S&P 500 gained 33.43 points, or 1.10%, to 3,083.76 and the Nasdaq Composite added 107.84 points, or 1.09%, to 10,017.

Asian Markets

Asian stocks were set to gain on Friday, as global sentiment remained doggedly upbeat despite increased volatility and rising new coronavirus infections, with Wall Street pushed higher by a loosening in bank regulations.

Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 1.21% in early trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures added 0.13%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.93%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 65 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 10,301 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

SEBI board meet outcome

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on June 25 announced revisions to various regulations related to pricing norms for preferential share issue, insider trading, among others following its board meeting.

The board will provide an additional option to the existing pricing methodology for preferential issuance. In case of frequently traded shares, SEBI said the price of a preferential issue should not be less than the average of weekly high and low of the volume-weighted average price during twelve or two weeks preceding the relevant date. The specified securities allotted on a preferential basis using the above pricing formula shall be locked-in for a period of three years, it added.

The SEBI board also approved Amendments to SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011. Acquisition through stock exchange settlement process through bulk and/or block deals shall be permitted during the open offer. For indirect acquisitions where the public announcement of an open offer has been made, 100 percent of the consideration payable under the open offer must be deposited in an escrow account. In case of delays in making open offer due to acts of omission or commission of the acquirer, a 10 interest to be paid to all shareholders who have tendered the shares in the open offer.

The board also approved amendments to SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015.

Oil prices crawl up on demand recovery

Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday, extending gains from the previous day on optimism about recovering fuel demand worldwide, despite surges in coronavirus infections in some U.S. states and indications of a revival in U.S. crude production.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 15 cents, or 0.4%, to $38.87 at 0009 GMT. Brent crude futures rose 22 cents, or 0.5%, to $41.27.

India may impose up to 25% import tax on solar modules, solar cells

Power minister RK Singh on June 25 said the government is considering imposing an import tax of 20-25 percent on solar modules and 15 percent on solar cells for a year beginning in August. "In the second year, we are looking to impose a 40 percent tax on solar modules," R.K. Singh, India's Power Minister said in a virtual news conference on Thursday, adding that cells will be taxed at 25 percent in the second year.

The energy hungry nation imports most of its solar cells and modules from China, in a bid to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of installing 100 gigawatts of solar energy by 2022.

India's exports may decline by around 10% in FY21: FIEO

India's exports are expected to decline by around 10 percent in FY21 and in case of a second wave of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, outbreak, the contraction may reach 20 percent, according to Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

"Initially, looking into the lockdown challenges and projected decline in global trade, we expected 20 percent decline in our exports. However, two days back, the WTO trade estimates for the second quarter puts the contraction only at 13 percent. We do not expect much improvement in demand," Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO, said.

US GDP fell at 5% rate in Q1; worse is likely on the way

The US economy shrank at a 5.0 percent rate in the first quarter with a much worse decline expected in the current three-month economic period because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that the decline in the gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, in the January-March quarter was unchanged from the estimate made a month ago.

Economists are forecasting a much bigger GDP drop of around 30 percent for the current April-June period.

Indian IT firms may forgo filing fresh H-1B petitions this year

Indian IT companies may forgo filing fresh H-1B petitions for FY21 and also delay filing extensions for their employees this year, sources have said. Uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak and the recent US decision to freeze work visas till year-end are the reasons these firms are reluctant to go ahead, say immigration and industry experts.

Indians are one of the largest beneficiaries of H-1B visa meant for skilled employees. For FY21, 67 percent of more than 2.5 lakh registrants for H-1B lottery were from India, according to the US Citizenship Immigration Services (USCIS).

Housing sales plummet by 81% in April-June quarter of 2020

Amid the coronavirus contagion, housing sales and new launches have plunged 81 percent year-on-year to 12,720 units across India’s top seven cities in the second quarter of 2020, ANAROCK said.

New launches fell 98 percent with merely 1,390 units getting launched this quarter. New launches account for just four projects - two in Bengaluru and one each in Pune and Kolkata. Housing sales dropped by 72 percent quarter-on-quarter while new launches fell by 97 percent, it said.

Results on June 26

ITC, Coal India, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Oil India, NALCO, Emami, Apex Frozen Foods, APL Apollo Tubes, Apollo Micro Systems, Aries Agro, Bilcare, Century Plyboards, Dhunseri Tea, EIH, Elecon Engineering, Eris Lifesciences, Gati, GNFC, Harrisons Malayalam, Hester Biosciences, HT Media, HUDCO, IFCI, ISGEC Heavy Engineering, ITI, J Kumar Infraprojects, Kajaria Ceramics, McDowell Holdings, Nava Bharat Ventures, Puravankara, Ramkrishna Forgings, RPP Infra Projects, Ruchi Soya Industries, Sanghvi Movers, Sheela Foam, Sharon Bio-Medicine, Sintex Plastics Technology, South Indian Bank, Sun TV Network, UCO Bank, etc.

FII & DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,050.61 crore and Rs 255.59 crore in the Indian equity market on June 25, as per provisional data available on the NSE.