Indian shares are seen opening on a flat note Tuesday, with banks likely to be in focus after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came out with an alarming report that banks' gross non-performing assets may rise to 13.5 percent by September 2021, from 7.5 percent in September 2020 under the baseline scenario.
If the macroeconomic environment worsens into a severe stress scenario, the GNPA ratio may escalate to 14.8 percent, the report said.
Meanwhile, the Centre has placed a purchase order for 1.1 crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine Covishield with Serum Institute of India and committed to buy 4.5 crore more by April 2021. The dispatch of the vaccines is expected to start by early January 12, PTI said.
Benchmark indexes Sensex and the Nifty rose about 1 percent on Monday after TCS kick-started the quarterly earnings season on an upbeat note. The rupee fell by 16 paise to close at 73.40 against the U.S. dollar.
Asian stocks are trading mixed this morning and commodities fell broadly on the back of a stronger dollar as political turmoil in Washington and rising coronavirus cases worldwide dented sentiment.
U.S. stocks ended on a weak note overnight as House Democrats prepared to impeach President Donald Trump, raising worries that stimulus may be delayed. Investors also waited for the earnings season to begin.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.3 percent.
European markets fell notably on Monday as worries over a Covid-related hit to demand overshadowed optimism about additional fiscal stimulus in the U.S.
The pan European Stoxx 600 index shed 0.7 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 gave up around 0.8 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 lost 1.1 percent.
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