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 as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 50 points gain.

The BSE Sensex climbed 326.82 points to 40,509.49 on October 9 while the Nifty50 jumped 79.60 points to 11,914.20. According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 11,833.4, followed by 11,752.6. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,966.8 and 12,019.4.

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 rose on Friday and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq registered their biggest weekly percentage gains since July as optimism over more federal fiscal aid grew.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 161.39 points, or 0.57%, to 28,586.9, the S&P 500 gained 30.31 points, or 0.88%, to 3,477.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 158.96 points, or 1.39%, to 11,579.94.

Asian Markets

Asian stock markets began the week with cautious gains on Monday, as investors clung to hopes for U.S. stimulus spending, while the dollar firmed after a Chinese central bank policy tweak unwound some of the yuan’s steep gains.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1% in early trade. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.1% higher and New Zealand’s NZ50 crept up to a record peak. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.3%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 50 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 12,011 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices extend losses as U.S. producers restore output post-hurricane

Oil prices dropped for a second straight session on Monday as U.S. producers began restoring output after Hurricane Delta weakened, while a strike that had affected production in Norway came to an end.

Brent crude for December fell 55 cents, or 1.3%, to $42.30 a barrel by 0023 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate for November was at $40.08 a barrel, down 52 cents, or 1.3%.

Digital payments soar manifold in 5 years to FY20: RBI

Concerted efforts by the Reserve Bank to move to a non/less-cash economy by pushing digital payments have begun to pay rich dividends as the volume of such payments has jumped manifold in the past five years, the latest data from the central bank showed. Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, digital payments have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 55.1 per cent – from 593.61 crore in the year to March 2016 to 3,434.56 crore in the year to March 2020.

In absolute terms, value has grown from Rs 920.38 lakh crore to Rs 1,623.05 lakh crore during this period, clipping at an annual compounded rate of 15.2 per cent. Giving a year-wise data, in 2016-17 digital payments jumped to 969.12 crore from 593.61 crore in the previous year in volume terms, while in value the same rose to Rs 1,120.99 lakh crore.

FPIs pump in net Rs 1,086 crore so far in October

Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) have invested Rs 1,086 crore on a net basis so far in October in Indian markets, tracking encouraging factors including improved GST collection, acceleration in economic activity and positive global cues.

According to the depositories data, overseas investors pumped in a net Rs 5,245 crore into equities and withdrew Rs 4,159 crore from the debt market during October 1-9.

SEBI asks listed companies to disclose forensic audit info to exchanges

In order to address the gaps in availability of information, markets regulator SEBI has asked listed companies to make disclosures about initiation of forensic audit to stock exchanges. The listed entities will make disclosures about the fact of initiation of forensic audit along with the name of the entity initiating such audit and reasons for the same, if available, to stock exchanges, SEBI said in a notification issued on Thursday.

RBI to move to next generation treasury application for managing forex, gold reserves

In a bid to improve its functioning, the Reserve Bank has decided to move to the Next Generation Treasury Application (NGTA) for managing the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves. The NGTA, according to the RBI, would be a web-based application providing scalability, maneuverability and flexibility to introduce new products and securities, besides supporting multi-currency transactions and settlements.

"RBI proposes to implement the NGTA which would be used for managing the foreign exchange reserves in a more efficient way, mitigate risk, achieve operational efficiencies, dealing in various asset classes and reporting,” the bid document said.

Worst is over, economic recovery faster than expected: Keki Mistry

Mortgage lender HDFC Ltd's CEO Keki Mistry on Saturday said the "worst is behind us" and the economic recovery has been faster than expected. Stating that the December quarter growth could outperform the expansion logged in the corresponding quarter a year ago, Mistry said that the Indian economy has shown its resiliency.

He also sought priority support for the manufacturing sectors. Talking about the repayment issues in the housing and the real estate sector, Mistry said that he expected non-performing loans to be in single digits.

Yuan falls after PBOC move

Chinese yuan dropped after the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it will lower the reserve requirement ratio for financial institutions when conducting some foreign exchange forwards trading, said a Reuters report. Analysts said the measure could keep the yuan’s strength in check by encouraging the use of forwards.

The yuan hit a 17-month high on Friday, both in onshore and offshore trade, having gained more than 6% against the dollar since late May largely driven by a favourable yield differential between China and other major economies, the report said.

RBI's targeted long-term liquidity measures to ease borrowing cost for NBFCs: Industry

The Reserve Bank’s decision to enhance liquidity into the system through long-term repo operations will ease the borrowing cost for NBFCs and relaxation in loan to value guideline will help revive the economy, the industry said on Friday.

The non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) said the decision to keep the key repo rate — at which the RBI lends short term money to banks — unchanged was on expected lines and in consideration with keeping the inflation target while supporting growth.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy review, said the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to retain repo at 4 percent while keeping its policy stance accommodative and suggested more measures going ahead to support the economy.

Results on October 12

Wipro, GNA Axles, Shalby, Indbank Merchant Banking Services, Ind Bank Housing and Alexander Stamps will announced quarterly earnings on October 12.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 39.39 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 126.61 crore in the Indian equity market on October 9, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

5 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Adani Enterprises, BHEL, Vodafone Idea, Jindal Steel & Power and Vedanta are under the F&O ban for October 12. 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.