SGX Nifty up 50 points; here's what changed for market while you were sleeping

Indian equity markets are set to open on a positive note amid directionless cues from global peers. Asian peers were trading mixed, whereas US stocks settled majorly lower during the overnight trade. Traders will await US FOMC minutes of the meeting, scheduled later in the day, to track the monetary tightening policy route from Fed. 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 46.5 points, or 0.29 per cent, higher at 16,145.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a positive start on Wednesday.

• Tech View: Nifty50 on Tuesday formed a small bearish candle on the daily chart and negated its higher high-low formations. That said, it stayed range bound in an otherwise weak day for global equities. Analysts expects the index to keep trading in the broad range of 15,900-16,400 going ahead.
• India VIX: The fear gauge spiked as much as 10 per cent to 25.65 Tuesday over its close at 23.41 level on Monday.

Asian shares trade mixed
Asian shares opened with mixed cues on Wednesday after US stocks mostly retreated on concerns about growth following a profit warning from the owner of Snapchat that shocked the tech sector. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.30 per cent.

• Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.22%
• Australia's ASX 200 gained 0.81%
• South Korea's Kospi surged 0.74%
• New Zealand's DJ advanced 0.44%
• China's Shanghai tumbled 0.18%
• Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.04%

US stocks settle mostly lower
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq finished in the red on Tuesday as worries that aggressive moves to curb decades-high inflation might tip the U.S. economy into recession dampened investors' risk appetite. A slump in several big companies weighed down the stock market Tuesday.

• Dow Jones gained 0.15% to 31,928.62
• S&P 500 dropped 0.81% to 3,941.48
• Nasdaq plunged 2.35% to 11,264.45

Oil prices rise
Oil prices rose in early trade on Wednesday, boosted by tight supplies and the prospect of rising demand from the upcoming start of the US summer driving season.

Brent crude futures for July rose 46 cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $114.02 a barrel by 0020 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for July delivery was up 58 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $110.35 a barrel.

FIIs sell shares worth Rs 2,393 cr
Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 2,393.45 crore, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs turned net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,948.49 crore, data suggests.

Q4 earnings today
Coal India, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, InterGlobe Aviation, Apollo Hospitals, Torrent Pharma, Max Healthcare, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation, Bata India, Whirlpool of India, Fortis Healthcare, AIA Engineering, National Aluminium, Cyient, EasyTrip Planners, ITI and SJVN are among the companies which will announce their March quarter earnings today.

Stocks in F&O ban today
Only one stock - Indiabulls Housing Finance - is under the F&O ban for Wednesday, May 25. 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.

MONEY MARKETS
Rupee: The rupee slipped by 2 paise to close at 77.57 against the US dollar in restricted trade on Tuesday, weighed down by a negative trend in domestic equities and unabated foreign fund outflows.

10-year bonds: India 10-year bond dropped 0.37 per cent to 7.36 after trading in 7.34 - 7.39 range on Tuesday.

Call rates: The overnight call money rate weighted average stood at 4.13 per cent on Tuesday, according to RBI data. It moved in a range of 2.30-4.35 per cent.