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 72 points gain.

The BSE Sensex was up 254.57 points to close at 39,982.98 on October 16 while the Nifty50 gained 82.10 points at 11,762.50. According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 11,690.27, followed by 11,618.03. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 11,812.27 and 11,862.03.

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 S&P 500 posted a nominal gain on Friday as further clarity regarding the timeline for the development of a coronavirus vaccine and much better-than-expected retail sales data and brought buyers back to the market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.11 points, or 0.39%, to 28,606.31, the S&P 500 gained 0.47 points, or 0.01%, to 3,483.81 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 42.32 points, or 0.36%, to 11,671.56.

Asian Markets

Asian markets started higher on Monday, buoyed by hopes of a U.S fiscal package before the U.S. presidential elections next month and expectations of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year, though the mood was still cautious as infections jump.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.26% for its second straight day of gains. Japan's Nikkei climbed about 1% while South Korea's KOSPI and Australian shares were up 0.7% each.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the index in India with a 72 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 11,844 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices

Oil prices edged up in early Asian trade on Monday ahead of China’s economic growth data, which is expected to show recovery in the top oil importer, offsetting concerns of an impact from the virus’ resurgence on consumption and rising supply.

Brent crude for December inched up 4 cents to $42.97 a barrel by 0018 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $40.90 a barrel, up 2 cents, a day before the November contract expires.

COVID-19 pandemic has peaked in India, can be under control by February-end, says govt panel

In a significant development, a government-appointed panel on October 18 said that the COVID-19 pandemic has peaked in India and can be controlled by early next year with "minimal active cases by February-end" if protective measures are followed.

According to reports, the 'COVID-19 India National Supermodel' committee, led by Professor M Vidyasagar of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad, revealed the findings in its study titled 'Progression of the COVID-19 pandemic in India: Prognosis and Lockdown Impacts'. According to the study, the total number of infections in India by the time the epidemic ends would be 105 lakh. Currently, India has reported over 75 cases of the infectious disease.

Higher NPAs hinder monetary policy transmission: RBI

High incidence of non-performing assets (NPAs) in banks acts as a major roadblock in transmission of monetary policy actions of the Reserve Bank, a working paper prepared by the officials of the central bank said. The working paper also made a strong case for capital injection in state-owned banks, arguing that such a move would increase the credit flow to the real sector in addition to ensuing smoother transmission of monetary policy.

"Presence of non-performing assets in a bank also weakens monetary policy transmission and lowers the loan growth rate," said the working paper co-authored by Silu Muduli and Harendra Behera, Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), RBI.

Passenger vehicle exports tumble 58% in H1FY21 as COVID-19 disruptions take toll

Passenger vehicle exports from India declined 57.52 per cent in April-September period of the current fiscal year as COVID-19 related disruptions hampered despatches to various global markets. As per the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), passenger vehicle exports in the first half of 2020-21 stood at 1,55,156 units as compared with 3,65,247 units in the year-ago period.

Passenger car exports during the period under review stood at 1,00,529 units, down 64.93 per cent from 2,86,618 units in April-September, 2019-20.

RBI announces steps to boost credit flow to real estate sector

In a bid to increase flow of credit to the real estate sector, the Reserve Bank on October 16 rationalised the risk weightage to LTV (loan to value) ratio for all new housing loans sanctioned up to March 31, 2022. As per a notification issued by the RBI, new housing loans will attract a risk weight of 35 percent where LTV is less than 80 percent and a risk weight of 50 percent where LTV is more than 80 percent but less than 90 percent.

This measure, according to the RBI, is expected to give a fillip to bank lending to the real estate sector which is critical for economic recovery, given its role in employment generation and the inter linkages with other industries.

US retail sales grow for 5th month in a row

Retail sales rose strongly in September, the fifth consecutive month of growth, as Americans spent more on clothing, cars and sporting goods. The US Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales jumped 1.9 percent last month. That's much better than the 0.8 percent rise economists expected. And it's up from an increase of 0.6 percent in August.

Retail sales have been recovering since plunging in the spring as stores and malls were ordered closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

US industrial production fell a sharp 0.6% in September

US industrial production fell 0.6 percent in September, the weakest showing since industrial output tumbled in the spring when the economy was slowed by widespread lockdowns resulting from the coronavirus. The Federal Reserve reported Friday that industrial production suffered its first decline since a 12.7 percent drop in April during the spring lockdowns.

The key category that reflects manufacturing output fell 0.3 percent. At the same time, mining output, which includes oil and gas exploration, fell 5.6 percent. Production at the nation’s utilities was up 1.7 percent.

Forex reserves rise by $5.867 billion to lifetime high of $551.505 billion

The country’s foreign exchange reserves surged by $5.867 billion to touch a record high of $551.505 billion in the week to October 9, according to the RBI data. In the previous week ended October 2, 2020, the reserves had increased by $3.618 billion to $545.638 billion.

During the reporting week, the increase in forex kitty was on account of rise in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves.

P-notes investment drops in September

Investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the Indian capital market dropped to Rs 69,821 crore at September-end but experts believe FPIs continue to be confident about the domestic market. According to Sebi data, the value of P-note investments in Indian markets — equity, debt, hybrid securities and derivatives — declined to Rs 69,821 crore at September-end after hitting a 10-month high of Rs 74,027 crore at the end of August.

Retail cheque payments down to a trickle in FY20 to 2.96%: RBI data

The aggressive push to a digital payments and settlement system has paid rich dividend to the Reserve Bank as the share of paper clearing in retail payments has come to trickle in FY2020, show the latest RBI data. In FY2020, the share of paper clearing in total retail payments plunged to just 2.96 percent in terms of volume and to 20.08 percent in terms of value, the data showed.

HDFC Bank reports 18.4% jump in Q2 profit at Rs 7,513 crore

HDFC Bank, the country's largest private sector lender, reported a 18.4 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in profit at Rs 7,513.11 crore for the September quarter, driven by PPoP, NII and lower tax rate. The profit in the year-ago period was at Rs 6,345 crore.

Net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, increased by 16.7 percent y-o-y to Rs 15,776.4 crore in the September quarter, driven by asset growth of 21.5 percent and a core net interest margin for the quarter at 4.1 percent, HDFC Bank said in its BSE filing.

Results on October 19

Britannia Industries, HDFC Life Insurance Company, L&T Technology Services, ACC, Century Textiles, CSB Bank, Borosil Renewables, Hatsun Agro Product, Bank of Maharashtra, Rallis India, Sagarsoft (India), Shish Industries, Skipper, Smruthi Organics, Sumeru Industries, Tata Metaliks, Texmaco Infrastructure, Texmaco Rail, Titan Biotech, Titan Securities and Chemo Pharma Laboratories will announce quarterly earnings on October 19.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 479.59 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 429.81 crore in the Indian equity market on October 16, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

11 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Adani Enterprises, BHEL, Canara Bank, Escorts, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Vodafone Idea, Jindal Steel & Power, Punjab National Bank, PVR, SAIL and Tata Motors are under the F&O ban for October 19. 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.