Market Ahead, December 18: All you need to know before the opening bell

Wall Street’s three main indices closed at record highs in overnight trade as investors grew more optimistic about a coronavirus stimulus bill.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49%, S&P 500 gained 0.58% and Nasdaq Composite added 0.84%.

However, Asian stocks took a breather and fell slightly as focus shifted to broader caution about the economic outlook and as post-Brexit worries weighed.

Britain and the European Union struck a pessimistic tone in trade talks on Thursday, with a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying it was “very likely” there would be no agreement unless the bloc changed its position “substantially”.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.46% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.01%.

Meanwhile, the popular cryptocurrency bitcoin soared past $23,000 level for the first time as more Wall Street names piled money into the currency.

Following a record close for Wall Street, Nifty futures on SGX were trading 29 points up at 13,773, indicating yet another solid start for markets.

Moreover, thanks to the FTSE and GEIS rejig, domestic markets are likely to witness huge bouts of inflows from passive funds, with estimates ranging from somewhere between $700-900 million.

Besides, a number of stock-specific developments are likely to trigger some key movements in stocks.

Defence-related stocks are likely to be in focus after The Ministry of Defence said its Defence Acquisition Council cleared proposals worth Rs 28,000 crore, of which acquisitions worth Rs 27,000 crore would be sourced from Indian industries.

Tata Consultancy Services' Rs 16,000 crore share buyback programme would open today. TCS would buy back up to 5.3 crore equity shares at Rs 3,000 apiece for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 cr.

Manappuram Finance said it has approved raising Rs 400 crore by issuing bonds on private placement basis.

S&P has revised the assessment of Union Bank of India’s standalone credit profile (SACP) from 'BB' to 'BB-' on weakening capital buffer. It also affirmed long-term issuer rating 'BB+' and short-term issuer rating 'B'.

Despite improving economic conditions, private sector lender Axis Bank sees bad loans rising in Q3 and Q4 of FY21 and said it will continue to be conservative.

Privatisation-bound BPCL on December 17 said its board has approved buying out Oman Oil Company's stake in the Bina refinery project in Madhya Pradesh on mutually agreeable terms.

In the primary market, the IPO of Mrs Bectors Food Specialities garnered 198x subscription and generated bids of more than Rs 40,000 crore. For IPOs of more than Rs 200 crore in size, this is the highest-ever subscription.