1 / 101. Asia: Stocks in Asia Pacific traded lower on Wednesday as caution remains over a recent resurgence in coronavirus cases in certain countries regionally. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.28 percent in early trade while the Topix index also slipped 0.99 percent.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.07 percent. Meanwhile, shares in Australia also traded lower, as the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.91 percent. Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.41 percent lower. Developments on the coronavirus front likely continued to weigh on investor sentiment. Globally, more than 4.2 million people have been infected. (Image Source: Reuters)
2 / 102. US: U.S. stock futures moved lower in overnight trading and pointed to losses at the open on Wednesday, after a sharp sell-off in the previous session. Dow futures fell 150 points, indicating a loss of 0.7 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also set to open lower, with losses of 0.85 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively. Stocks fell on Tuesday, after spending much of the session around the flatline, as investors parsed through the latest developments surrounding the economy reopening. (Image Source: Reuters)
3 / 103. Market At Close On Tuesday: Indian indices trimmed losses but ended lower on Tuesday dragged by losses in index heavyweights RIL, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, and HUL. Meanwhile, concerns over extension of lockdown post May 17 in India also weighed on the sentiment. The Sensex ended 190 points lower at 31,371, while the Nifty fell 42 points to end at 9,196. Broader markets were also negative with Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices down around 0.5 percent each. (Image Source: Reuters)
4 / 104. Crude Oil: Oil futures rose on Tuesday, boosted by an unexpected commitment from Saudi Arabia to deepen production cuts in June to help drain the glut in the global market that has grown as the coronavirus pandemic crushed fuel demand. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $1.64, or 6.8 percent, to settle at $25.78 per barrel. Brent crude futures climbed 35 cents, or 1.18 percent, to settle at $29.98 per barrel. The benchmark fell $1.34 on Monday. (Image Source: AP)
5 / 105. Rupee Close: Indian rupee erased initial losses and ended near day's high level at 75.50 per dollar, amid volatility seen in the domestic equity market. (Image Source: Reuters)
6 / 106. PM Modi Announces Lockdown 4.0: Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced lockdown 4.0, however, he said the details will be given before May 18. Modi also announced a comprehensive economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore, which includes measures already announced by the union finance minister and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to push self-reliance and boost economy after the spread of coronavirus pandemic. (Image Source: PTI)
7 / 106. March IIP Contracts By 16.7%: The country's industrial output contracted by 16.7 percent in March, mainly on account of poor show by mining, manufacturing and electricity sector due to the nationwide lockdown, government data showed on Tuesday. CNBC-TV18 poll had earlier suggested a reading of -6.47 percent. The output had showed a growth of 4.5 percent in February. "In view of the global COVID-19 pandemic and consequent nationwide lockdown measures implemented since March 2020, the data flow from the producing units was impacted," the government notification said. (Image Source: Reuters)
8 / 108. Need Liquidity From Banks, Says Deloitte India, FICCI Report: FICCI and Deloitte have sent a report to the government offering solutions to the logjam situation that is impending business continuity. The report suggests a two-step approach. The first is to isolate the impact of COVID on businesses and moving the losses from P&L to the balance sheet. The second step requires the banking sector to step in and provide focussed relief in the form of Crisis Liquidity Bridge through additional Working Capital Term Loan (WCTL), Funded Interest Term Loan (FITL) and other relevant facilities that businesses may require to overcome the COVID impact. (Image Source: Reuters)
9 / 109. Trump Not Interested in Reopening US-China Trade: US President Donald Trump said on Monday he opposed renegotiating the US-China "Phase 1" trade deal after a Chinese state-run newspaper reported some government advisers in Beijing were urging fresh talks and possibly invalidating the agreement. Trump, who himself has considered abandoning the pact signed in January, told a White House press briefing he wanted to see if Beijing lived up to the deal to massively increase purchases of US goods. "No, not at all. Not even a little bit," Trump said when asked if he would entertain the idea of reworking Phase 1. "I'm not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too, they'd like to reopen the trade talk, to make it a better deal for them." (Image Source: Reuters)
10 / 1010. Tech Job Seekers Leverage Lockdown To Learn New Technologies: Over 84.48 percent engineers and tech graduates are utilising the lockdown to reskill or up-skill themselves to stay updated, according to a survey. An equal percentage of men and women engineers have unanimously acknowledged the skill gap, and are leveraging the lockdown to enhance their knowledge, according to a survey by IP-driven incubation lab BridgeLabz Solutions LLP. It surveyed over 1,500 fresh tech graduates and working professionals online across the country during the lockdown. As per the survey, 71.95 percent of the respondents representing almost equal numbers of men and women are currently looking out for a job. (Image Source: Reuters)
