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

Nifty opened higher but soon erased the gains and closed in the red on Tuesday as investors remained cautious and grappled with selloff in IT stocks.

"After witnessing a rally in the last few trading sessions, Nifty is now consolidating in a range in the absence of any major domestic cues. Now the focus will be on global cues with major US banks and Tech companies due to announce their earnings," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Option data suggests a shift in trading range in between 17400 to 18000 zones while a shift in immediate trading range in between 17500 to 17850 zones.

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 21.5 points, or 0.12 per cent, lower at 17,700, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for negative start on Wednesday.

• Tech View: Nifty has highest open interest at 18000 CE level and 17000 PE level, which indicates that even though it is a buy on dips market, there is more room on the downside with the current data and hence traders should initiate only hedged positions if done on the long side in Nifty.
• India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, fell 1.63% to settle at 12.07 levels.

US stocks mixed
The S&P 500 eked out a slim gain on Tuesday after strength in some big technology stocks countered disappointing quarterly reports from Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs as first-quarter earnings season kicked into gear.

Asian shares mixed
Asian equities traded mixed Wednesday after stocks were little changed on Wall Street as investors weighed earnings and comments from Federal Reserve officials who favor continued rate hikes.

Oil prices rise
Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday as U.S. crude inventories were seen falling and on strong Chinese economic data, signalling strengthening fuel demand.

Brent crude futures gained 7 cents to $84.84 a barrel at 0020 GMT. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude was up 3 cents to $80.89 a barrel.

Stocks in F&O ban today

1) Balrampur Chini Mills

2) Delta Corp

Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.

FII/DII action
Foreign portfolio investors remain net sellers for second straight day, dump shares worth Rs 810 crore on Tuesday. DIIs bought stock worth Rs 401 crore

Rupee
The rupee fell 3 paise to close at 82.04 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking negative sentiments in the domestic equities market.

Corporate results
Tata Communications, ICICI Securities, Alok Industries and a slew of other companies will announce their quarterly results today.