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

SUMMARY

The Indian market is likely to open higher on Wednesday as the SGX Nifty, an indicator of the opening for Nifty50, was trading 11 points higher at 14,495.80, at 7:30 am, hinting at a slightly positive start for the domestic market.

By CNBCTV18.comJan 20, 2021 8:04:28 AM IST (Published)

1. US Markets | Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Tuesday as U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen advocated for a hefty fiscal relief package before lawmakers to help the world’s largest economy ride out a pandemic-driven slump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 116.26 points, or 0.38 percent, to 30,930.52, the S&P 500 gained 30.66 points, or 0.81 percent, to 3,798.91 and the Nasdaq Composite added 198.68 points, or 1.53 percent, to 13,197.18.

2. Asian Markets | Investors in Asian markets were poised for gains on Wednesday after Wall Street indexes rose on the back of U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen's push for a sizable fiscal relief package in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Australia's ASX 200 rose more than 0.5 percent in early trade Wednesday. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.03 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 futures added 0.07 percent, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures lost 0.29 percent.

3. Indian Markets | Indian Indices ended over 1.5 percent higher on Tuesday, snapping losses of the previous two sessions, as markets witnessed massive buying across sectors. The Sensex ended 834 points higher at 49,398 while the Nifty rose 240 points to settle at 14,521. Broader markets also rose in trade with the Nifty Midcap index up 2.3 percent and the Nifty Smallcap index gaining 1.8 percent. All sectors were also positive in trade today.

4. Oil | Oil prices climbed with US stock markets on Tuesday ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as US president on optimism that more government stimulus will eventually lift global economic growth. Brent futures for March delivery rose $1.08, or 2.0 percent, to $55.83 a barrel by 1:25 p.m. EST (1825 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 52 cents, or 1.0 percent, to $52.88. Front-month February WTI futures expire on Wednesday.

5. Rupee | The rupee gained 11 paise to settle at 73.17 against the US dollar on Tuesday on the back of rally in domestic equities and weak American currency. A rebound in regional currencies amid growing risk appetite among investors also supported the local currency. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 73.16, and hit an intra-day high of 73.14 and a low of 73.31. It finally finished at 73.17, higher by 11 paise over its last close.

6. Gold | Gold gained Rs 198 to Rs 48,480 per 10 gram in the national capital on Tuesday following a rally in international precious metal prices, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, it had closed at Rs 48,282 per 10 gram.

7. Biden's Inauguration | Wednesday will see President-elect Biden’s Inauguration take place. Biden will likely recap top of the docket policies that include the already announced stimulus plan, alongside highlighting immediate initiatives such as rejoining the WHO & Paris climate accords.

8. Yellen’s Comments | Incoming Treasury Secretary of the US, Janet Yellen took part in a confirmation hearing. Her remarks were largely in-line with the administration's previous rhetoric. The highlights included: her support of Biden's $1.9tn stimulus package, targeting China’s “abusive actions”, and mulling over the potential of 50y Treasury bond issues.

9. Govt to WhatsApp | Government has firmed up with prima facie view and with that view, it has written to WhatsApp making it clear that there is an urgent need felt by the government for WhatsApp to reconsider its approach and to go ahead and to withdraw the proposed changes to its privacy policy. The government in its letter points out that as far as these proposed changes are concerned its understanding is that the new policy change will allow WhatsApp to share information, highly invasive, and granular metadata can be collected in terms of time and frequency of messages and user messages to business accounts.

10. Coronavirus Vaccine | NITI Aayog member, Dr VK Paul said yesterday that concerns related to health issues post-vaccination were "insignificant, unfounded, and negligible." He said, as per the data seen so far, the vaccines are safe and this is a reassuring situation. He has taken Covaxin himself, and he did not face any side-effects, he added. Govt has planned to cover all the healthcare workers within the next few days. He also spoke about a nasal vaccine candidate and said, "it could be a gamechanger." Nasal vaccines were used in the past for treatment of Measles.