Business
Updated : 2021-01-21 08:11:49
The Indian market is likely to open higher on Thursday following a rally in international markets amid positive global cues. At 8:00 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 52.00 points or 0.36 percent higher at 14,696.00, indicating a positive start for the Sensex and Nifty50.
1. Wall Street | The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit all-time highs on Wednesday as Joe Biden became the 46th US president, while solid results from Netflix sparked a rally in shares of stay-at-home winners. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 257.86 points to a new closing high of 31,188.38. The S&P 500 also gained 1.4 percent to a record close of 3,851.85. The Nasdaq Composite soared almost 2 percent to finish its trading day at 13,457.25, also touching a fresh record.
2. Asian Markets | Shares in Asia-Pacific rose in Thursday morning trade after stocks on Wall Street sailed to record highs as US President Joe Biden was sworn into office. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 percent while the Topix index advanced 0.84 percent. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.53 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.22 percent higher.
3. Indian Market on Wednesday | Indian indices edged higher to end at record close on Wednesday, snapping two sessions of losses, led by gains in IT and Auto stocks. The Sensex ended 394 points higher at 49,792 while the Nifty rose 123 points to settle at 14,645. Broader markets were also higher for the day with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.5-1 percent each. The Nifty Auto and Nifty IT index surged over 2 percent each for the day while Nifty Metal was up 0.9 percent. Nifty Bank and Nifty Fin Servcies also rose 0.3 percent each.
4. Crude Oil | Oil edged higher on Wednesday on expectations that US President Joe Biden’s administration will deliver hefty pandemic-related economic stimulus that will lift fuel demand and enact policies that will tighten crude supply. Brent crude settled at $56.08 a barrel, gaining 18 cents. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $53.24 a barrel, climbing 26 cents.
5. Rupee | The rupee finished 12 paise higher at 73.05 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid a rally in domestic equities and a weak greenback overseas. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 73.11, and hit an intra-day high of 73.05 and a low of 73.14. It finally closed at 73.05, higher by 12 paise over its last close. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 73.17 against the American currency.
6. Joe Biden Sworn In As US President | Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday at a historic inaugural ceremony, pledging to unite the country and calling on Americans to end the “uncivil war” that has fractured the deeply polarised nation. Kamala Harris was also sworn in as America’s first woman Vice President in a time-honored ceremony on the steps of the US Capitol.
7. Budget 2021 Unlikely To Cut Personal Income Tax Rate | The upcoming Budget 2021 is unlikely to tinker with the personal income tax rates, CNBC-TV18 has learnt through sources in the North Block, though some relief through other tax exemption measures may come through. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that the Finance Ministry was not in favour of changing the slabs for personal income tax rates.
8. ECLGS | Banks have sanctioned an additional Rs 15,571 crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to MSMEs that were impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. With this, total sanctioned amount under ECLGS 1.0 and 2.0 has increased to Rs 2.14 lakh crore and 90.57 lakh MSMEs have benefited from this.
9. Toll Revenue | Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) financial status is in a good shape, and the country’s toll revenue, which is Rs 34,000 crore per year, will touch Rs 1.34 lakh crore a year by 2025. “Now, the great challenge for me is how we are going to monetise the project and how we are going to raise the funds. This is important that we are adopting different types of solutions for that,” Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
10. Housing Sales | Total sales of home units in top seven cities across the country increased by 78 percent in Q4 2020 to 110,811 units versus 62,197 units in Q3 2020 on the back of pent-up demand and increased sales during the festive season. Sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 versus the same quarter in 2019 also increased by 25 percent, a report by PropEquity, a real estate data, research and analytics firm said.
