Top 10 things to know before the market opens

The Indian stock market to see a muted start as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the index in India.

The BSE Sensex rallied 259.62 points to 48,803.68 on April 15 while the Nifty50 gained 76.70 points at 14,581.50.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 14,423.97, followed by 14,266.43. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 14,668.27 and 14,755.03.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the 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 and Dow Jones indexes hit record highs on Thursday, as upbeat earnings reports from companies including Bank of America and BlackRock as well as a strong rebound in March retail sales bolstered hopes of a broader economic rebound.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 305.1 points, or 0.9 percent, to 34,035.99; the S&P 500 gained 45.76 points, or 1.11 percent, at 4,170.42; and the Nasdaq Composite added 180.92 points, or 1.31 percent, at 14,038.76.

Asian Markets

Asian shares were little changed on Friday ahead of a raft of Chinese economic data, while world stocks on the whole flew at a record level, fuelled by strong U.S. economic data that may herald a solid recovery ahead.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat start for the broader index in India. The Nifty futures were trading 16 points lower around 14,603 level on the Singaporean Exchange at 7:20 IST.

Low base pushes up March exports by 60 percent, imports soar 53.7 percent

Owing to a low base effect, India's merchandise trade shot up by 60 percent in March, after registering just a marginal 0.67 percent in February. Data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on 15 April showed outbound trade rose to $34.45 billion.

Calculated year-on-year, exports had fallen by 34.5 percent to just $21.4 billion in March 2020, a year back. Trade had been among the first industries to be hit in the initial days of the pandemic, after a nationwide lockdown was announced on March 23. However, the impact of lockdown in other nations had already begun, thus adversely affecting shipping flows even before that.

U.S. retail sales post largest gain in 10 months; weekly jobless claims fall

U.S. retail sales rose by the most in 10 months in March as Americans received additional pandemic relief checks from the government and increased COVID-19 vaccinations allowed broader economic re-engagement, cementing expectations for robust growth in the first quarter.

The brightening economic prospects were underscored by other data on Thursday showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits tumbled last week to the lowest level since March 2020, when mandatory closures of nonessential businesses were enforced to slow the spread of the first COVID-19 wave.

China's first-quarter GDP to hit record growth as recovery speeds up

China’s economic rebound likely quickened sharply in the first quarter from a coronavirus-induced slump earlier last year, propelled by stronger demand at home and abroad and continued government support for smaller firms.

Data released on Friday is expected to show gross domestic product (GDP) jumping a record 19 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, after a 6.5 percent expansion in the last quarter of 2020, a Reuters poll showed.

Dollar set for back-to-back weekly losses as Treasury yields retreat

The dollar headed for its worst back-to-back weekly drop this year amid a continued retreat in Treasury yields from more-than-one-year highs as investors increasingly bought into the Federal Reserve’s insistence of continued monetary support.

Results on April 16

Mindtree, Den Networks, GTPL Hathway, MMTC, and AAR Commercial Company will release quarterly numbers on April 16.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 979.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 526.63 crore in the Indian equity market on April 15, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

1 stock under F&O ban on NSE

SAIL is under the F&O ban for April 16. 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.