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

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green following positive global cues. Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 26 points gain.

The Sensex ended up 304.38 points at 39,878.95 on October 7 and the Nifty climbed 76.50 points at 11,738.90, the highest closing level since February 25. According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 11,657.73, followed by 11,576.67. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,791.43 and 11,844.07.

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

U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday as investors regained optimism that at least a partial deal on more U.S. fiscal stimulus may happen.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 529.45 points, or 1.91%, to 28,302.21, the S&P 500 gained 58.38 points, or 1.74%, to 3,419.33 and the Nasdaq Composite added 210.00 points, or 1.88%, to 11,364.60.

Asian Markets

Asian shares were set to track Wall Street gains on Thursday, as renewed hopes for more U.S. stimulus helped restore investor confidence in the New York session.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.07%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.42% in early Asia trade. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures added 0.08%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures rose 0.29%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 26 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,820 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil falls 2% on U.S. stimulus impasse, stockpile rise

Oil prices fell nearly 2% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump dashed hopes for another stimulus package to boost the coronavirus-hit economy and after U.S. crude inventories rose in the most recent week.

Brent crude futures fell 66 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $41.99 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 72 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $39.95 a barrel.

M Rajeshwar Rao named new RBI Deputy Governor

The appointments committee of the Cabinet has cleared the name of M Rajeswar Rao for the post of Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the government said in a release on October 7. Rao is presently Executive Director at RBI, the release said.

Rajeshwar Rao is a seasoned central banker. His present responsibilities as executive director include financial markets operation department and international department, internal debt management department.

Interest subvention on MSME loans extended until end of March 2021: RBI

The two percent interest subvention scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on loans extended by co-operative banks has been extended till March 31 next year, the Reserve Bank of India said on October 7. The terms of the scheme have also been tweaked.

In notification, the RBI said certain operational guidelines for the scheme have been further modified by the government. The validity of the scheme has been extended till March 31, 2021. "Accordingly, fresh or incremental term loan / working capital limit extended by co-operative banks with effect from March 3, 2020 will be eligible for coverage under the scheme," RBI said.

TCS Q2 beat street estimates

India's largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), on October 7 reported better-than-expected numbers as the company showed improvement on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis and beat market estimates on most parameters. The company's profit after tax came at Rs 7,475 crore for the quarter ended September 2020 against Rs 7,008 crore in the previous quarter. A CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated it to be around Rs 6,744 crore.

The company said: "The board has approved a proposal to buy back up to 5,33,33,333 equity shares, being 1.42 percent of the total paid-up equity share capital, at Rs 3,000 per equity share for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 crore (excluding taxes and related expenses), on a proportionate basis under the tender offer route using the stock exchange mechanism, subject to the approval of the members by means of a special resolution through a postal ballot.

Fed could boost bond buys, but won't for now, policymakers say

The Federal Reserve could ramp up its bond purchasing program to push down further on borrowing costs, but for now the U.S. economy’s most pressing need is for a new round of government spending, U.S. central bankers said on Wednesday.

Long-term interest rates are already low, he said, and investors don’t appear to be losing faith in the Fed’s September promise to keep short-term rates near zero until the economy reaches full employment and inflation reaches 2% and looks set to rise further.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,093.81 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,129.49 crore in the Indian equity market on October 7, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

3 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Adani Enterprises, Bharat Heavy Electricals and Vodafone Idea are under the F&O ban for October 8. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.