Market Ahead, February 28: All you need to know before the Opening Bell

The coronavirus-led sell-off in global markets continued on Thursday. Mainland China had 327 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday. However, it is the epidemic's rapid global spread that has the Wall Street looking set for its biggest weekly fall since the 2008 financial crisis. The US markets went on a free-fall after the World Health Organisation said that all countries, including the rich nations, should prepare to combat the coronavirus.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,191 points, the S&P 500 lost 138 points and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 414 points. The gloomy mood in the global markets will thus be the biggest factor for the domestic markets today. In early trade in Asia, Japan and Australian indices slipped over 3 per cent, while MSCI's regional index excluding Japan lost 0.6 per cent. The SGX Nifty is also indicating a gap-down start today for the domestic indices.

Investors will also await the GDP numbers for the third quarter of FY20 to be released later in the day. Most experts peg the number closer to 5 per cent while the median forecast of a Reuters poll of economists put annual economic growth at 4.7 per cent during the quarter which is marginally higher than 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the Digital Communications Commission is expected to meet today to deliberate on a relief package for the telecom sector. although according to reports any relief for the sector would come with riders.

Besides, the Rupee's trajectory, oil price movement, and stock-specific action will also be on investors' radar.

In commodities, oil prices tumbled for a fifth day on Thursday with Brent crude dropping 2.3 per cent to settle at $52.18 a barrel.

In line with the global markets, domestic indices ended in the red for the fifth straight session on Thursday. The S&P BSE Sensex lost another 143 points and the Nifty50 index ended at 11,633, down 45 points. 

And, in the end, here's a stock idea by CapitalVia Global Research which recommends buying NIIT Technologies Limited above Rs 1915 for the target of Rs 1995 with stop-loss at Rs 1853.







Read by: Kanishka Gupta