SGX Nifty up 30 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Domestic stocks look set to open higher on Friday on hopes that RBI would increase GDP forecast for FY21 when it announces money policy later in the day. The central bank may, nonetheless, maintain status quo on the policy rate and may even guide for a higher inflation going ahead.

Here’s breaking down the pre-market actions

STATE OF THE MARKET
SGX Nifty signals positive start
Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange traded 34 points, or 0.26 per cent, higher at 13,237, in signs that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Friday. Here are a few stocks which may buzz the most in today's trade:

Tech View: Bears gain upper hand
The index formed a bearish candle on the daily chart that resembled a ‘Bearish Belt Hold’ pattern as it saw selling from the word go, before recovering some ground at the end. Such a formation, following a Dragonfly Doji pattern in the previous session, suggested that the bears were getting the upper hand. The index closed at 13,133, below the key resistance at 13,145. It rose 20.15 points, or 0.15 per cent, for the day.

Asian markets open mixed
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.31 per cent, or 83.09 points, to 26,811.59. The Chinese benchmark Shanghai Composite dipped 0.16 per cent, or 5.41 points, to 3,436.73. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.31 per cent or 82.69 points at 26,726.68 in early trade, while the broader Topix index slipped 0.15 per cent or 2.63 points to 1,772.62.

Oil rises as producers agree on compromise
Oil prices rose on Friday, heading for a fifth week of gains, after major producers agreed to continue to restrain production to cope with coronavirus-hit demand but the compromise fell short of expectations. Brent was up 19 cents, or 0.4 per cent, at $48.89 a barrel after gaining around 1 per cent on Thursday. WTI had risen 18 cents, or 0.4 per cent at $45.82 a barrel.

US stocks settled mixed
On Thursday, the S&P 500 slipped 2.29 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3,666.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 85.73 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 29,969.52. The Nasdaq composite added 27.82 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 12,377.18. A couple of economic reports, including one showing fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, helped support stocks.

Burger King IPO subscribed 9.38x on Day 2
Burger King India's initial public offer was subscribed 9.38 times on the second day of subscription on Thursday. The company's initial public offer (IPO) received bids for 69,86,61,250 shares against the total offer size of 7,44,91,524 shares, as per data available with the NSE. The portion meant for qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 2.70 times, non institutional investors 3.61 times and retail individual investors (RIIs) 37.84 times.

FIIs buy Rs 3,637 cr worth of stocks
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were buyers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 3,637.42 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,439.7 crore, data suggests.

High OI shows banks, pharma in favour
Banking, steel, chemical and pharma companies are garnering high interest in the December futures segment as traders look for select opportunities in the broader market after the over 75% rally in benchmark indices since March. PSU banks seem to be particularly in favour because of their cheaper valuations.

Nifty futures signal toppish market
Active Nifty futures premium rose to an eight-month high of 68.85 on a closing basis to spot Nifty shows the extent of bullish sentiment in the market, but should ironically strike a cautionary note among retail investors, analysts believe. This is because markets tend to correct after euphoria sets in. Market mavens added, though, that a pullback of 400-600 points after the stellar 1,577 point rally from the low of 11,557 on November 2 to the December 3 close of 13,133.9 would offer an opportunity for those who missed the last leg of the current rally to hop on.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee slipped for the second straight day to end 12 paise lower at 73.93 against the US dollar on Thursday as investors remained cautious ahead of the RBI policy meet outcome.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond yield rose 0.20 per cent to 5.93 after trading in 5.90-5.93 range.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 3.09 per cent, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 1.90-3.40 per cent.

MACROS
RBI's money policy review today
The six-member monetary policy committee led by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will decide the policy rate on Thursday. Analysts largely expect the central bank to keep the repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends money to banks, unchanged at 4 per cent. The RBI had refrained from cutting policy rates at its previous monetary policy meeting as well, citing discomfort on elevated inflation. Inflation has been sticky. Inflation stood at a 77-month high of 7.6 per cent in October.

Dollar moving down the pack... The dollar is steadily moving down the pack of the world’s currencies in December. The euro, the Australian and Canadian dollars, and the Korean won have all touched their highest levels in more than two years this week, while the Swiss franc is at its strongest since 2015. The pound is just shy of its oneyear peak, despite uncertainty over Brexit trade talks. More weakness in the greenback may come as asset managers build record short bets.

Economy set to do better in Q3... The Indian economy is expected to perform better in the third quarter (October-December) than in the second (July-September), the finance ministry said in its monthly economic report for November. "Sustained improvement in high-frequency indicators in October and November ignite optimism of an improved performance in the third quarter of 2020-21,” the ministry said in the report released on Thursday.

Rush to settle insider trading cases... Top officials of listed companies facing the glare of the Sebi for alleged insider trading violations are getting a reprieve thanks to the regulator’s new settlement scheme. In the last few months, Sebi has settled at least half-a-dozen insider trading cases through the consent route, through which an accused can settle any ongoing case with Sebi by paying up without accepting or denying guilt. Some senior employees of companies such as Diageo, Titan, Divi’s Laboratories, NIIT and JM Financial have settled their insider trading cases via this mechanism, data showed.

Sebi curbs on 63 Moons Tech... Sebi on Thursday said 63 Moons Technologies, promoted by the NSEL scam-accused Jignesh Shah, is not ‘fit and proper’ to provide software services to market intermediaries. Brokers, custodians and fund houses using its services have been given three months to make alternative arrangements. 63 Moons Technologies provides STP software solutions and ODIN trading software across the securities markets.

RBI curbs hit HDFC Bank stock... Shares of HDFC Bank slid 1.8%% at Rs 1,377 on Thursday as analysts said the impact of Reserve Bank of India's directive to the bank to stop issuing new credit cards as well as the launch of new digital business could be modest. The central bank's order has come after a rise in the number of outages of its online services. While shares of the bank — a stock market darling for the past decade — ended near their session lows on Thursday, analysts see this as a temporary setback and have maintained bullish ratings.

SC relief to Franklin on would-up schemes... The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund to call for a meeting of unitholders to take consent to wind up the six debt schemes. The apex court, in its interim order, said the redemption requests from investors will remain suspended. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund said it would approach the unitholders shortly for their approval to close down the schemes.