The market is expected to open on a cautious note as trends in SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 5 points.
The BSE Sensex climbed 1,534 points to 54,326, and the Nifty50 rose 457 points to 16,266 and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts. Experts expect the index to face resistance at around 16,400 mark, crossing which can take the index beyond the 16,600 mark, they feel.
As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 16,086, followed by 15,905. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 16,365 and 16,463.
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
Wall Street ended mixed on Friday after a volatile session that saw Tesla slump and other growth stocks also lose ground. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logged their seventh straight week of losses, their longest losing streak since the end of the dotcom bubble in 2001.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.01 percent to end the session at 3,901.36 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.30 percent to 11,354.62 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03 percent to 31,261.90 points. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.0 percent, the Dow lost 2.9 percent and the Nasdaq declined 3.8 percent.
Asian Markets
Asian stocks faced an uncertain start on Monday as persistent inflation fears and the prospect of rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook, which remains mired in negative sentiment.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.04 percent higher, after US stocks ended the previous session with negligible gains for the day. The index is down 3.6 percent so far this month. In early trade, Australian shares gained 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei stock index was 0.85 percent higher.
SGX Nifty
Trends in SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 5 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 16,260 levels on the Singaporean exchange.
Centre cuts excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre, on diesel by Rs 6 per litre
In news that comes as a relief to the common man, the Centre has decided to cut the excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre. This will effectively reduce the price of petrol by Rs 9.5 per litre and of diesel by Rs 7 per litre.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while making the announcement on her Twitter handle on May 21, requested the state governments to follow the lead, especially those who didn't announce a reduction last time (November 2021).
"I wish to exhort all state governments, especially the states where reduction wasn’t done during the last round (November 2021), to also implement a similar cut and give relief to the common man," read her tweet.
Government waives import duty on some raw materials for steel industry, export duty on iron ore hiked up to 50 percent
The government has waived customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry, a move which will lower the cost for the domestic industry and reduce the prices. Also, to increase domestic availability, the duty on exports of iron ore has been hiked up to 50 percent, and a few steel intermediaries to 15 percent, according to a notification. The duty changes was effective from Sunday. The import duty on ferronickel, coking coal and PCI coal has been cut from 2.5 percent, while the duty on coke and semi-coke has been slashed from 5 percent to nil.
The tax on the export of iron ores and concentrates has been hiked to 50 percent, from 30 percent, while that on iron pellets a 45 percent duty has been imposed. Duty on pig iron and spiegeleisen in pigs, blocks, or other primary formats; flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, hot-rolled, not clad, plated or coated; Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, cold- rolled (cold-reduced), not clad, plated or coated, flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, clad, plated or coated have been hiked to 15 percent from nil.
Crude oil prices climb
Oil prices rose in early trade on Monday with the US fuel demand, tight supply and a slightly weaker US dollar supporting the market, as Shanghai prepares to reopen after a two-month lockdown fuelled worries about a sharp slowdown in growth.
Brent crude futures rose 82 cents to $113.37 a barrel at 0126 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 69 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $110.97 a barrel, adding to last week's small gains for both contracts.
Results on May 23
Zomato, Divis Laboratories, Bharat Electronics, Birlasoft, TRF, SAIL, Nelcast, Pricol, The Ramco Cement, TTK Healthcare, Patel Engineering, Igarashi Motors, Graphite India, Data Patterns (India), Shilpa Medicare, and Vaibhav Global will be in focus ahead of March quarter earnings on May 23.
FII and DII data
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 1,265.41 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers, to the tune of Rs 2,148.95 crore worth of shares on May 20, as per provisional data available on the NSE.
UK retail sales jump unexpectedly, but big picture bleak
British retail sales jumped unexpectedly in April as shoppers loaded up on alcohol and tobacco, likely a blip in an otherwise bleak trend that has driven consumer confidence to all-time lows amid a worsening cost-of-living crunch.
Retail sales volumes rose 1.4 percent month on month after a 1.2 percent drop in March, the Office for National Statistics said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2 percent monthly fall.
Stocks under F&O ban on NSE
Five stocks - BHEL, Delta Corp, GNFC, Indiabulls Housing Finance, and Punjab National Bank - are under the F&O ban for May 23. 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.
With inputs from Reuters and other agencies