CPI inflation at 15-month low, Infosys Q4 results today

Opening Bell:

SGX Nifty is down by 11.0 points in the early morning trade, indicating a flat to negative opening for Indian stock market.

Asian stocks fell on concern moderating inflation in the US won’t be enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again next month. The Japanese Nikkei is flat with 0.05 percent gain. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down by 0.96 percent and South Korea’s Kospi is flat with 0.04 percent gains in early morning deals.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s March policy meeting revealed concern among several members of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) regarding the regional bank liquidity crisis. S&P 500 declined 0.41 percent whereas Nasdaq 100 lost 0.89 percent respectively.

Stocks News:

?Shares of Infosys will be in focus as the company will announce its fourth quarter results later in the evening. The Board will also consider paying a dividend. Infosys is expected to post muted revenue and profit growth for the quarter ended March on weak financial services demand and seasonal factors.

?NTPC has decided to issue unsecured non-convertible debentures of Rs 3,000 crore on 17 April through private placement at a coupon of 7.35% for a tenor of 3 years.

?Container Corporation of India’s total provisional throughput was up 4.71% year-on-year for the quarter ended March.

?The Board meeting is scheduled to be held today to consider the proposal for issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.

?Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 342.84 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) sold shares worth Rs 264.02 crore on April 11, National Stock Exchange’s provisional data showed.

Domestic and International Events

• India’s industrial output grew by 5.6 percent in February, data released on April 12 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. At 5.6 percent, the February IIP growth print is largely in line with consensus expectations of 5.8 percent.
• India’s headline retail inflation rate crashed below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) 6 percent upper-bound in March, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. As per the government data, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 5.66 percent last month from 6.44 percent in February.
• North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Thursday, South Korea and Japan said, prompting an alert for residents in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido to take cover.
• Oil prices eased in early trading on Thursday after rising for the previous two sessions as investors remained cautious due to lingering concerns over a U.S. recession and weaker oil demand

Key Equity Indices