SGX Nifty up 80 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Domestic equity markets are set for a strong start on Friday, tracking the upbeat mood in the global markets. Asian peers rose up to 3 per cent, whereas US Stocks ended on a high note during overnight trade. Back home, traders will ey the listing on Paradeep Phosphates after a series of muted listings. 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 78.5 points, or 0.49 per cent, higher at 16,254.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Friday.

• Tech View: Nifty50 on Thursday saw strong buying from its support of 15,900, as it ended up forming a Hammer candle on the daily chart, which is a bullish reversal candle. Analysts said such a formation will have bullish connotation, provided the index attracts a follow-through buying in the next session.
• India VIX: The fear gauge dropped more than 10 per cent to 22.72 level on Thursday over its close at 25.28 on Wednesday.

Asian shares trade higher
Asian shares rallied sharply on Friday morning amid broad-based gains across sectors and a surge in tech firms after strong earnings giants Alibaba and Baidu. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 1.80 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.86%
• Australia's ASX 200 gained 0.91%
• South Korea's Kospi surged 1.09%
• New Zealand's DJ added 0.33%
• China's Shanghai advanced 0.73%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 3.16%

US stocks ended higher
Wall Street closed sharply higher on Thursday after optimistic retail earnings outlooks and waning concerns about overly aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve put investors in a buying mood. Investors cheered a strong set of quarterly results from Macy’s and other retailers.

• Dow Jones gained 1.61% to 32,637.19
• S&P 500 surged 1.99% to 4,057.84
• Nasdaq advanced 2.68% to 11,740.65

Oil just off 2-month high
Oil prices eased slightly in early Asian trade on Friday, after surging to a two-month high in the previous session as investors focused on signs of tight global supply.

Brent crude futures fell 11 cents to $117.29 a barrel by 0:08 GMT. WTI crude futures for July delivery fell 19 cents to $113.90 a barrel. Prices have gained about 50 per cent so far this year.

FIIs sell shares worth Rs 1,598 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 1597.84 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs turned net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,906.46 crore, data suggests.

Q4 earnings today
JSW Steel, GAIL (India), FSN e-Commerce Ventures, United Spirits, Info Edge (India), Jindal Steel & Power, Ruchi Soya Industries, Astral, PB Fintech, Aarti Industries, Oil India, Sumitomo Chemicals, 3M India, Godrej Industries and Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals are among the companies which will announce their March quarter earnings today.

Stocks in F&O ban today
No stocks are under the F&O ban for Friday, May 27. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit.

Paradeep Phosphates listing
Paradeep Phosphates, a non-urea fertilizers maker, will be listed at the bourses on Friday. The company's Rs 1,501.73 crore initial public offering of the company was open for subscription between May 17-19 as the company sold its shares in the range of Rs 39-42 apiece.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee declined 6 paise to close at 77.61 against the US dollar on Thursday, as firm crude prices and relentless foreign capital outflows dented investor sentiment.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond dropped 0.15 per cent to 7.29 after trading in 7.27 - 7.31 range on Thursday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 4.11 per cent on Thursday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.30-4.35 per cent.