Market Ahead, February 26: All you need to know before the opening bell

In the overnight session, Wall Street’s main indices tumbled with the Nasdaq index posting its largest daily percentage fall in four months, as technology-related stocks remained under pressure following a rise in US bond yields. The Dow and the S&P 500 notched their biggest daily decline since late January.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.75% lower, the S&P 500 lost 2.45% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 3.52%.

Consequently, Asian stocks opened sharply lower with Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 down 2% in early trade and on track for the biggest intraday percentage loss since January 28. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.8%.

The rout on Wall Street looks set to extend to Indian markets too. SGX Nifty futures were trading 285 points or 1.88 per cent down at 14,895 as of 7.30 am, indicating a gap-down start for benchmark indices.

Market participants, meanwhile, would keep an eye on the Q3 GDP data that will be released later today. According to a BS report, economists seem divided on the GDP projection with some predicting a contraction of up to 2% while others eyeing a growth of up to 1.8%.

Now, a look at the stock-specific developments that are likely to sway the market today:

Shares of RailTel Corporation will list on the bourses today. Analysts expect the shares of the PSU firm to debut at a premium of 16-18% over the issue price of Rs 94 per share. The IPO was subscribed 42 times.

DHFL has received no objection from the Reserve Bank and has filed an application with NCLT for submission of the resolution plan of Piramal Capital & Housing Finance.

IT services major Infosys said it will add 300 local jobs in Pennsylvania as part of its ongoing hiring plans in the US.

Schaeffler India is looking to leverage the IT infrastructure and competence available in India, which offers a high level of cost competitiveness, to develop solutions for the global need as well as for the domestic market, a top company executive has said.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers has acquired 7.89 acres of land to develop a residential project in Bengaluru. The project will offer about 5 lakh sq ft of carpet area. The launch of the project is planned for FY 2022.

HCL Technologies' subsidiary HCL America Inc has approved a proposal for issuing senior unsecured notes of up to $500 million. The net proceeds of the notes, which are proposed to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, will be used for refinancing existing debts and for general corporate purpose.

Lastly, the initial public offer by Gujarat-based Heranba Industries was subscribed 83 times on Thursday, the issue's final day. The institutional investor portion was subscribed 67 times. The wealthy investor portion by 271 times, and retail investors subscribed 11 times the portion reserved for them.