RIL in focus: 10 things to know before the opening bell

Global cues:

The Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 on Tuesday for the first time since 2000, while the Dow and S&P ended barely changed. Retailers and homebuilders were among the best performing sectors, responding to stronger-than-expected earnings and robust housing market data.

Asian share markets nudged into the red on Wednesday following an uninspiring performance by Wall Street, while a dip in the dollar against the yen prompted profit-taking on Japanese stocks.Losses were light as the Nikkeieased 0.2 percent and inched further away from the six-month peak touched on Monday. Conviction was equally lacking elsewhere, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 0.1 percent lower.

[caption id=“attachment_1247755” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]

The dollar wallowed at one-week lows against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, undermined by lower Treasury yields after a batch of data failed to sway markets one way or the other over when the Federal Reserve will scale back stimulus.The dollar index fell as low as 80.599 and last stood at 80.649, well off this week’s peak of 81.023. Against the yen, the dollar retreated to 101.27 from a six-month high of 101.91 reached on Monday.

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Business/Stock news:

Reliance Industries Ltd will be in focus today. RILmay be allowed by the government to increase the price of gas from its D-6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin from 1 April. The petroleum minister has also said that the government is confident of securing bank guarantees from the company for a potential settlement of any claims that arise from the shortfall in the supply of gas.

SBI stocks will also be watched today. A few days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) lodged a graft case against State Bank of India managing director Shyamal Acharya, it found 4 kilograms of gold in Acharya’s personal lockers in Kolkata and Mumbai.

Crisis-ridden bourseNational Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL)on Tuesday paid around Rs 9 crore against the scheduled payment amount of Rs 174.72 crore, defaulting for the 15th straight time.With Tuesday’s pay-out, NSEL has so far settled about Rs 235 crore against Rs 5,600 crore dues to 13,000 investors.

Ford Motor Co’s bad safety streak with its 2013 Escape continued on Tuesday as the automaker issued nearly 1500 vehicle recalls for the second most popular sport utility vehicle in the U.S. market.

Economy news:

State-run electric utilities company Power Grid Corporation of India has come out with its follow-on public offer (FPO) of 78,70,53,309 equity shares of Rs 10 each. The issue is going to open for subscription on December 3.

Tax rates for companies in India are among the highest in the world and the number of payments is also more than the global average, putting the country at a low 158th rank on the ‘Paying Taxes 2014’ list. However, the time taken for tax payments is relatively less in India, which is rated ahead of China and Japan where it takes 318 hours and 330 hours, respectively, to comply with tax regulations, according to a World Bank and PwC report.