SGX Nifty up 20 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Domestic stocks are likely to see a positive start to Friday's trade, tracking strong gains in other Asian markets. Business updates of a few companies at home suggest growth is back on track, even as rising Covid-19 cases are a persisting concern. All eyes would be on the forthcoming earnings season. Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty signals a positive start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 20 points, or 0.11 per cent, higher at 17,839.50, signalling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Friday.

• Tech View: The Nifty50 on Thursday saw a gap-up start but eventually ended the day around the same levels, thus making an indecisive Doji candle on the daily chart. The long lower wick, as was seen in the last couple of sessions, suggested intraday selling was bought into after the index tested its 5-day moving average.

• India VIX: The fear gauge spiked over 4 per cent to 17.98 level on Thursday over its close at 17.23 level on Wednesday.

Asian shares rise at open
Asian stocks opened higher on Friday, rebounding from sharp falls in the previous session on speculation about US monetary policy shift. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.52 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei jumped 0.25%
• South Korea's Kospi rallied 1.20%
• Australia's ASX 200 gained 1.21%
• China's Shanghai advanced 0.45%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.69%

US stocks settled lower
The S&P500 index ended a volatile session close to unchanged on Thursday, as technology shares fell but financials lent support a day after the market sold off on a hawkish slant in Federal Reserve minutes.

• Dow Jones tanked 0.47% at 36,236.47
• S&P 500 dropped 0.10% to 4,696.05
• Nasdaq declined 0.13% to 15,080.86

Dollar rides high on rate hike bets
The dollar is set to notch up a fifth consecutive weekly gain on the Japanese yen and looks poised to extend the rally if US labor data due later on Friday reinforces the case for early Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.

• Dollar Index was flat about 96.210
• Euro was holding at $1.1293
• Pound was retreated to $1.3533
• Yen weakened to 116.35 per dollar
• Yuan exchanged hands at 6.3802 against the greenback

FPIs sell shares worth Rs 1,927 crore
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1,926.77 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs turned net buyers to the tune of Rs 800.91 crore, data suggests.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee on Thursday dipped 4 paise to close at 74.42 against the US dollar, tracking the strength of the greenback in the overseas market after hawkish US Fed minutes.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond gained 0.26 per cent to 6.53 after trading in 6.52 - 6.54 range on Thursday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 3.21 per cent on Thursday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.00-3.45 per cent.