10 things you need to know before the opening bell on April 20

SUMMARY

Indian domestic market is expected to open flat following its global peers. Asian and US futures market are currently trading flat as investors weigh the latest news on the coronavirus front along with another decline in crude prices. However, in India, lockdown will be eased in areas with no new cases for coronavirus, as said by the government earlier. This could bring some relief amongst investors later in the trade today.

By CNBCTV18.comApr 20, 2020 7:40:31 AM IST (Published)

1. Asia: Asia Pacific stocks slipped in Monday morning trade as investors awaited the release of China’s benchmark lending rate. The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.29 percent in early trade while the Topix index shed 0.56 percent . Over in South Korea, the Kospi dipped 0.12 percent . In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.41 percent lower. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.18 percent lower. The moves came as investors awaited the release of China’s loan prime rate, that is set to be out, with a cut expected by traders and analysts surveyed by Reuters.

2. US: U.S. stock futures traded lower on Sunday night as investors weigh the latest news on the coronavirus front along with another decline in crude prices. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 36 points, pointing to a Monday opening dip of around 6 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointed to a largely flat Monday open for the two indexes.

3. Market At Close On Monday: Indian stocks ended at 1-month high, up over 3 percent on Friday after RBI announced another round of measures to help fight liquidity crisis amid coronavirus lockdown. The Reserve Bank of India cut its reverse repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) in a bid to push banks to deploy excess funds toward lending. The Sensex ended 986 points higher at 31,589, while the Nifty settled 274 points higher at 9,267.

4. Crude Oil: Oil prices fell on Friday as news of President Donald Trump’s plans to ease the U.S. coronavirus lockdown to get the American economy moving again were quickly overshadowed by China’s worst quarterly economic contraction on record. U.S. crude for June fell 1.5 percent, or 39 cents, to trade at $25.14 per barrel. Brent rose 44 cents to trade at $28.26 per barrel.

5. Rupee Close: The Indian rupee on Friday settled 48 paise higher at 76.39 against the US dollar, rebounding from an all-time low hit a day earlier, buoyed by RBI measures to prop up the economy reeling under the Covid-19 impact. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.59 and then gained further ground to touch a high of 76.35 against the US dollar. The domestic unit finally settled for the day at 76.39 against the US dollar, registering a rise of 48 paise over its previous close.

6. RBI Announces Measures To Ease Liquidity: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das, in the press conference, cut reverse repo rate by 25 bps to 3.75 percent from 4 percent, and announced Rs 1 lakh crore liquidity lifeline. The central bank also announced that banks and cooperative banks shall not make any dividend payouts until further notice. It also launched long-term repo operations (TLTROs) worth Rs 50,000 crore to help non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), which have been suffering on account of tight cash conditions.

7. Government Amends FDI Policy: To curb opportunistic takeovers or acquisitions of Indian companies due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the Narendra Modi government on Saturday amended the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy 2017. According to new revised policy, an entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the government route. And while China has not been explicitly mentioned in the release, foreign affairs experts feel the amendment in the rule could be to thwart China from buying large stakes in Indian companies, either directly or through friendly nations.

8. IRDAI Directs Health Insurers To Take Claims Immediately: Insurance regulator, IRDAI, has issued guidelines for quick settlement of COVID-19 claims. All health and general insurance companies have been directed to decide/clear cashless requests for the treatment of COVID-19 within two hours of request receipt. The IRDAI has also asked health insurers and general insurance companies to take a call on final discharge within two hours from the time of receipt of the bill and the last necessary requirement from the hospital. All health and general insurance companies have been asked to issue the guidelines to their respective third party administrators.

9. Lockdown Cuts India's Fuel Demand: Indian state retailers sold 50 percent less refined fuel in the first two weeks of April than the same time a year ago as a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the new coronavirus hit transportation and industrial activity, industry sources said. State companies - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum - own about 90 percent of India’s retail fuel outlets. India’s gasoil sales by state retailers in the first 15 days of April dropped by 61 percent from a year earlier while gasoline and jet fuel sales declined by 64 percent and 94 percent, said the provisional industry data.

10. US President Trump Announces $19 billion Relief For Farmers: President Donald Trump has announced a $ 19 billion financial rescue package to help the agriculture industry weather the staggering economic downturn sparked by measures to defeat the coronavirus. Trump told a press conference on Friday that the government "will be implementing a $ 19 billion relief program for our great farmers and ranchers as they cope with the fallout of the global pandemic." The program will include direct payments to farmers, ranchers and producers who Trump said have experienced "unprecedented losses during this pandemic."