Market Ahead, June 16: All you need to know before the opening bell

After plunging over 1 per cent yesterday, the Indian markets look all set for a gap-up opening today on the back of a rally in other global markets. The SGX Nifty is up around 170 points from yesterday's close and is indicating an open at around 9,980 levels for the Nifty today.

This is after Wall Street closed higher overnight as the US Fed announced tweaks to its bond buying program, widening the range of eligible assets to include all US corporate bonds that satisfied certain criteria. 

Moreover, Morgan Stanley economists have said the global economy is in a new expansion cycle and output will return to pre-coronavirus crisis levels by the fourth quarter.

Overall, the Dow Jones ended 0.62 per cent higher, the S&P 500 gained 0.83 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite  added 1.43 per cent.

Asian stocks followed the late Wall Street surge in early deals. Australian ASX 200 and Japan's Nikkei both rose 3 per cent each while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 2.5 per cent.

In commodities, crude oil swung into positive territory. Brent crude was last down 1.64 per cent at $39.07 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the rapidly increasing Covid-19 cases in India might cap the gains. The tally, as of now, is at over 3.43 lakh, and the death toll is nearing the 10,000-mark, according to Worldometer. Besides, investors will also be on the lookout for any potential headlines from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's virtual meet with chief ministers today against the backdrop of the rising number of Covid-19 cases.

On the results front, Tata Motors yesterday posted a consolidated net loss of Rs 9,894 crore for the March quarter. The company said that the sales of JLR were heavily impacted during the quarter as some of its key markets went into lockdowns. 

Today, a total of 25 companies, including HPCL, NMDC, and Ipca Labs are scheduled to report their March quarter earnings.

Besides, GAIL might trade actively in today's session after Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the ministry was planning to unbundle GAIL into two companies for gas transmission and marketing business.

And. now, some other top news of the day.

Exports contracted 36.47 per cent in May after a historic fall in April, even as the lockdown eased and ports cleared cargo.

The Sebi is likely to discuss legal issues concerning refunding investors of Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund and the status of the special audit against the fund house during its board meeting on June 25.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday held a review meeting with private banks and NBFCs during which the private lenders asked the government to revisit some provisions in the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme.

Read by Kanishka Gupta