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

The Indian stock market is expected to open lower as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the index in India with a 54 points loss.

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 ended lower on December 14, weighed down by Walt Disney, while Alexion Pharmaceuticals jumped on a $39 billion buyout offer from AstraZeneca in one of the year’s biggest deals.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.62% to end at 29,861.55 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.44% to 3,647.49. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.50% to 12,440.04.

Asian Markets:

Asian stocks came under pressure on December 15 following a mixed Wall Street session as concerns about increasing COVID-19 deaths, infections and lockdowns overshadowed optimism about the start of coronavirus vaccinations.

Australian S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.12% in early trading while Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures fell 0.13%. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.21%.

SGX Nifty:

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative start for the broader index in India, with a loss of 54 points or 0.40 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around 13,537.50 level on the Singaporean Exchange.

SEBI proposes relaxing norms for listing startups

Seeking to boost listing of start-ups, markets watchdog Sebi on December 14 proposed a slew of relaxations to norms, including reducing holding period for pre-issue capital, providing differential voting rights to promoters and allowing discretionary allotment to all eligible investors.

The changes have been proposed to the framework for listing on the Innovators Growth Platform (IGP). Other proposals include retaining superior voting rights for existing institutional investors holding over 10 percent of the capital, and easing delisting requirements.

ICRA upgrades outlook for Indian steel sector to stable

Rating agency Icra on December 14 upgraded its outlook for the Indian steel sector to stable on the back of improving demand and prices. Icra had earlier this year revised its outlook for the sector to negative from stable. In a statement on Monday, Icra said “steel sector outlook upgraded to stable from negative on the back of improving demand and prices.”

The momentum has strengthened further in December quarter. The cumulative domestic steel demand in October-November has already surpassed the pre-COVID-19 levels, it said.

First COVID-19 vaccine administered, tweets Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump on December 14 tweeted that the first COVID-19 vaccine has been administered in the country.

"First vaccine administered. Congratulations USA! Congratulations WORLD!" Trump tweeted.

This comes days after the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) on December 11 approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.

November retail inflation at 6.93%

India's retail inflation for November was at 6.93 percent against 7.61 percent in October.

Vegetables inflation for November came in at 15.63 percent, oils and fat at 17.86 percent, meat and fish at 16.67 percent, and pulses and products at 16.67 percent. Inflation in transport and communication came in at 11.06 percent and that in recreation and amusement came in at 4.57 percent.

Focus on growth, look at fiscal management from a 3-year perspective: CII to FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The CII, in its recommendations for Union Budget 2021 to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has said the government expenditure should be prioritised in three areas: infrastructure, healthcare, and sustainability, and that disinvestment and monetisation of assets can bring in revenues at a time when tax revenues have fallen sharply.

The CII recommended that the government bring down its stake in public sector banks (PSB) to below 50 percent through the market route, over the next 12 months, except for 3-4 large PSBs such as State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and the Union Bank of India.

'No deal' Brexit could hit UK credit rating, says S&P Global

Credit ratings firm S&P Global said on Monday a ‘no deal’ Brexit that cut Britain off from key European markets for a prolonged period of time could leave the country facing another sovereign rating downgrade.

Britain become the first AAA-rated country to suffer a double-notch downgrade after its 2016 Brexit vote. S&P currently rates it AA with a ‘stable’ outlook, meaning a downgrade is not an immediate risk, but a hard Brexit would reapply pressure.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 2,264.38 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,721.11 crore in the Indian equity market on December 14, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

2 stocks under F&O ban on NSE

Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank are under the F&O ban for December 15. 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.