Shuja Shabbir

The Nifty witnessed a bloodbath on Friday as it plunged over 250 points and the S&P BSE Sensex witnessed a fall of over 800 points. After a 29 percent rally in the year 2017, the Nifty recorded its worst fall of the year 2018.

The Nifty closed at 10,760.6 on Friday. According to Pivot charts, the key support level is placed at 10,679.47, followed by 10,598.33. If the index starts to move higher, key resistance levels to watch out are 10,898.37 and 11,242.83.

The Nifty Bank closed at 27,220.7. Important Pivot level, which will act as crucial support for the index, is placed at 26,973.5, followed by 26,726.3. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 27,540.7, followed by 11,036.13.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines from across news agencies.

US markets slump  as Dow sees worst day in two years

Worries about the impact of a tightening job market on the prospects for inflation and a surge in bond yields sent investors fleeing equities on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrials Average swooning almost 666 points, for its biggest daily percentage loss in 20 months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 665.75 points, or 2.54 percent, to 25,520.96, the S&P 500 lost 59.85 points, or 2.12 percent, to 2,762.13 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 144.92 points, or 1.96 percent, to 7,240.95, Reuters reported.

Asia markets trade lower; Nikkei down 2%

Asia markets fell in early trade on Monday, following a sharp decline in US stocks on Friday amid a stronger-than-expected jobs report that sent interest rates higher. The Nikkei 225 fell 2.06 percent in early trade, while the Topix index was down 1.71 percent. South Korea’s Kospi index fell 1.66 percent, CNBC reported.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India, a dip of 103 points or 0.98 percent. Nifty futures were trading around 10,615-level on the Singaporean Exchange.

Normal monsoon, steady crude prices can push India’s growth to over 8% in FY19: FM

The Indian economy’s growth can canter into an 8 percent-plus growth track if crude oil prices stay within manageable limits and the monsoon rains turn out to be normal this year, finance minister Arun Jaitley said.

“Some indicators, which are known as green shoots in the language of business, such as business confidence, PMI (purchase managers’ index), core (infrastructure) sector growth, are all good. We need to see what happens next,” Jaitley told News 18 Network in an exclusive interview.

RBI should refrain from hiking rates on Feb 7 policy: Assocham

The Reserve Bank should not “over-react” to high yield pressures in the bond market and refrain from hiking interest rates in its next monetary policy review on February 7, industry body Assocham said.

“Some of the macro indicators, including pegging of higher fiscal deficit of 3.3 percent for 2018-2019 and 3.5 percent of the GDP for the current fiscal, look difficult, but reaction of the bond market would ease out soon,” Assocham said in a post-Budget paper.

FPI inflows at $3.5bn in Jan on better earnings expectation

Foreign investors have pumped in a whopping USD 3.5 billion (over Rs 22,000 crore) into the country’s capital markets in January in anticipation of better corporate earnings and attractive yields.

According to depositories data, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) infused a net amount of Rs 13,781 crore in equities and Rs 8,473 crore in debt in January – translating into net inflows of Rs 22,254 crore (USD 3.5 billion).

LTCG tax kitty from stocks to double to Rs 40K cr in FY20: Hasmukh Adhia

The government hopes to double its revenue from long term capital gains (LTCG) tax on stocks to Rs 40,000 crore in 2019-20 as more share transactions come in its fold with the waning of the grandfathering effect, a top official has said.

Adhia said a huge Rs 3.67 lakh crore, as per the I-T returns filed for Assessment Year 2017-18, has been exempted from tax as it under the LTCG from listed shares.

Pro-Brexit MPs plotting to replace Theresa May: Report

Pro-Brexit lawmakers are plotting to topple Prime Minister Theresa May if she tries to keep Britain in the EU’s tariff-free customs union, media reports said ahead of crucial Cabinet meetings over Britain’s future relationship with the European Union later this week.

According to UK media reports, Conservative party MPs in favour of a complete break from the EU have threatened to submit a “tsunami” of letters demanding a vote of no confidence unless May backs their demand of a complete exit from the EU customs union.

Govt expects up to Rs 4,000 cr surplus fund from SEBI: DEA Secy

The government is eyeing Rs 3,000 -4000 crore surplus funds lying with markets regulator Sebi as part of exercise to mop up non-tax revenue to bridge the fiscal deficit gap, a senior official has said.

“They have run up into some surplus already. So, there is that should be kept in public account rather than banks. That is being discussed. That amount is not very large, it’s around Rs 3,000-4000 crore,” Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said.

Rupee crumbles to a two week low on fiscal deficit woes

The Indian rupee suffered an intense plunge and closed at a near two-week low of 64.06 against the US dollar after the government announced long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax on equities and widened its fiscal deficit target while unveiling the Union Budget.

The home currency plunged to a fresh one-month low of 64.20 on Thursday before ending at 64.06, showing a loss of 51 paise, or 0.80 percent.