Stocks may open higher

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could rise 382 points at the opening bell.

Overseas, Asian markets were trading sharply higher after the US Federal Reserve launched unlimited bond buying and other fresh steps and the US Congress appeared closer to a deal on a massive stimulus package to boost the world's largest economy hammered by the coronavirus.

In US, stocks booked sharp losses on Monday as the rapidly rising number of coronavirus cases across the nation overshadowed the Federal Reserve's pledge to buy unlimited bonds and bolster emergency lending facilities to support the flow of credit into the economy.

The central bank's unscheduled announcement comes as investors remain unhappy with a lack of government action to address the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Back home, key domestic benchmarks crashed on Monday after the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic sent major Indian states into a lockdown. Investors feared that the Covid-19 outbreak could bring economy to a grinding halt. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex crashed 3,934.72 points or 13.15% at 25,981.24. The Nifty 50 index slumped 1,135.20 points or 12.98% at 7,610.25.

The Sensex and the Nifty hit lower circuit limit of 10% in morning trade. The market resumed trading at 10:43 IST for pre-opening session. Normal trading started from 10:58 IST.

The trading activity on that day showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 2989.29 crore yesterday, 23 March 2020, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1082.24 crore, yesterday, 23 March 2020, as per provisional data.

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