What Changed For The Market While You Were Sleeping? Top 10 Things To Know

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the red as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 42 points loss.

Benchmark indices ended at record closing high backed by buying across sectors. The BSE Sensex rose 446.90 points or 1 percent to 45,079.55 on December 4 while the Nifty50 jumped 124.60 points or 0.95 percent to 13,258.50.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty is placed at 13,180.87, followed by 13,103.23. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 13,308.07 and 13,357.63.

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 indexes rose to all-time high on Friday as data showing the slowest U.S. jobs growth in six months raised investors’ expectations for a new fiscal relief bill to help revive the coronavirus-hit economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 248.74 points, or 0.83%, to 30,218.26, the S&P 500 gained 32.40 points, or 0.88%, to 3,699.12 and the Nasdaq Composite added 87.05 points, or 0.7%, to 12,464.23.

Asian Markets

A gauge of Asian shares hit a record peak on Monday on hopes of a much-needed U.S. stimulus package before year-end just as coronavirus vaccines roll out, while oil prices hovered near their highest since March.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2% to 643.1 points, on track for its fifth straight session of gains. Japan’s Nikkei added 0.1% while Australian shares climbed 0.8%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 42 points loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 13,284 on the Singaporean Exchange around 07:30 hours IST.

Oil prices fall as surging virus cases force more lockdowns

Oil prices fell on Monday as a continued surge in coronavirus globally forced a series of renewed lockdowns, including strict new measures in Southern California.

Brent crude oil futures were down 16 cents, or 0.3%, at $49.09 a barrel by 0117 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell 19 cents, or 0.4%, to $46.07 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained for a fifth consecutive week last week.

FPIs pump in Rs 17,818 crore

Overseas investors remained net buyers to the tune of Rs 17,818 crore in Indian markets in first four trading sessions of December amidst better than expected economic recovery around the world and positive sentiment on the back of various vaccine results.

As per depositories data, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) pumped in a net sum of Rs 16,520 crore into equities and Rs 1,298 crore in the debt segment during December 1-4.

Bank credit grows by 5.82%, deposits by 10.89% in fortnight ended November 20: RBI data

Bank credit grew at 5.82 percent to Rs 104.34 lakh crore, while deposits rose by 10.89 percent to Rs 143.71 lakh crore in the fortnight ended November 20, the RBI data showed. In the fortnight ended November 22, 2019, bank credit stood at Rs 98.60 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 129.58 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight ended November 6, advances grew by 5.67 percent and deposits by 10.63 percent. In October, non-food credit growth decelerated to 5.6 percent compared to a growth of 8.3 percent in the same month of the previous year.

US trade deficit widens less than expected in October

The United States' trade deficit increased less than expected in October, suggesting trade could contribute to economic growth in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department said on Friday the trade gap rose 1.7 percent to $63.1 billion in October. Data for September was revised to show a $62.1 billion deficit instead of $63.9 billion as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade shortfall increasing to $64.8 billion in October.

US job gains miss expectations in November; unemployment rate falls to 6.7%

The US economy added the fewest workers in six months in November, hindered by a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases that, together with a lack of more government relief money, threatens to reverse the recovery from the pandemic recession.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 245,000 jobs last month after rising by 610,000 in October, the Labor Department said on Friday. That was the smallest gain since the jobs recovery started in May. The fifth straight monthly slowdown in job gains left employment well below its February peak.

India's forex reserves down $469 million to $574.82 billion

After touching a lifetime high in previous week, the country's foreign exchange reserves declined $469 million to $574.821 billion in the week ended November 27, RBI data showed.

FCA rose by $352 million to $533.455 billion, according to the weekly data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Expressed in dollar terms, FCA includes the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.

Indian economy is recovering from COVID-19 pandemic-induced slowdown: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on December 4 said economic recovery is happening in the country post the COVID-19 pandemic. "Recovery is there - some say patchy - but it has been happening," the finance minister said.

She said rising demand in many sectors is likely to sustain. "I am not sure if the pent up and festival demands will explain more than 1 lakh crore GST collection for two consecutive months. Many industrial leaders are looking at capacity expansion, not just in one unit but across the country," she said.

Global debt to hit $200 trillion: S&P Global

Global debt is set to reach $200 trillion, or 265 percent of the world's annual economic output, by the end of the year, S&P Global has forecast - although it doesn't expect a crisis any time soon. The credit ratings giant said it amounted to a 14-point rise as a percentage of world GDP, having been amplified by both the economic plunge caused by COVID and the extra borrowing that governments, firms and households have had to resort to.

"Global debt-to-GDP has been trending up for many years; the pandemic simply exacerbated the rise," S&P's report said.

Discoms' outstanding dues to power gencos rise over 29% in October

Power producers' total dues owed by distribution firms rose over 29 percent YoY to Rs 1,38,187 crore in October 2020, reflecting stress in the sector. Distribution companies (discoms) owed a total of Rs 1,06,734 crore to power generation firms in October 2019, according to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators).

In September 2020, total outstanding dues of discoms stood at Rs 1,36,566 crore. The overdue amount in October 2020 has increased from Rs 1,24,675 crore in September 2020.

Pfizer seeks emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine in India

Pfizer India has become the first pharmaceutical firm to seek from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) an emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine in the country, after its parent company secured such clearance in the UK and Bahrain.

"Pfizer India has submitted an application on December 4 to the DCGI seeking emergency use authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine in India. The firm has submitted the EUA application in Form CT-18 for grant of permission to import and market Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 in the country," the source said, citing the application.