SGX Nifty down 70 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

The domestic equity market was poised to kick off the week on a negative note, tracking directionless cues from Asian peers. US stocks, which will be closed on Monday, settled mixed on Friday. Back home, the focus would remain on India Inc's Q3 numbers and rising Covid-19 cases in the country. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty signals a negative start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 68 points, or 0.37 per cent, lower at 18,206, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Monday.

• Tech View: Nifty50 made a good recovery from low on Friday and erased almost all gains, as it ended up forming a bullish candle on the daily chart. With that, the index also ended up with a decent bullish candle on the weekly chart, suggesting the bulls are in no mood to give up.
• India VIX: The fear gauge eased about a per cent to 16.56 level on Friday over its close at 16.70 on Thursday.

Asian shares traded mostly higher
Asian stocks opened mostly higher Monday as investors weighed worries over a tightening of monetary policy by the US Fed and awaited Chinese economic data due later in the day. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down by 0.33 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei added 0.82%
• South Korea's Kospi tanked 1.16%
• Australia's ASX 200 added 0.10%
• China's Shanghai gained 0.23%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.61%

Wall Street settled mixed
The Dow closed lower on Friday with a big drag from financial stocks as investors were disappointed by fourth quarter results from big US banks, which cast a shadow over the earnings season kick-off.The Nasdaq and the S&P regained lost ground in afternoon trading to close higher.

• Dow Jones dropped 0.56% to 35,911.81
• S&P 500 added 0.08% to 4,662.85
• Nasdaq gained 0.59% to 14,893.75

Dollar finds a footing
The dollar clung to a late week bounce on Monday as investors braced for January's US Federal Reserve meeting and raised bets it will chart a year ahead holding several rate hikes, while China surprised analysts with a benchmark cut.
Dollar Index was pinned to 95.225.

• Euro moved up to $1.1403
• Pound was bought at $1.3669
• Yen slipped to 114.45 per dollar
• Yuan exchanged hands at 6.3559 against the greenback

Oil extends rally on supply tightness
Oil prices rose on Monday, with Brent crude futures at their highest in more than three years, as investors bet supply will remain tight amid restrained output by major producers with global demand unperturbed by the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Brent crude futures gained 42 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $86.48 a barrel by 0022 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 62 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $84.44 a barrel.

FPIs sell shares worth Rs 1,599 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1598.2 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs turned net buyers to the tune of Rs 371.41 crore, data suggests. However, FPI's pumped Rs 1,857 crore into equities during January 1-14.

Q3 earnings
UltraTech Cement, HFCL, Angel One, Sonata Software, Nazara Technologies, Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem, Maharashtra Scooters, Hathway Cable and Datacom, Bhansali Engineering Polymers and Fineotex Chemicals are among the companies that will announce their December quarter results today.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: Snapping its five-day winning run, the rupee on Friday slumped 25 paise to close at 74.15 against the US dollar, in line with other emerging market currencies as hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials weighed on sentiment.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond eased 0.32 per cent to 6.58 after trading in 6.56 - 6.60 range on Friday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 3.28 per cent on Friday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.10-3.45 per cent.