The market may edge lower tracking weak Asian markets. Institutional investors may be on the sidelines awaiting companies’ guidance for Q4 March 2007 and FY 2007. IT bellwether Infosys kickstarts earnings reporting season on Thursday 11 January 2007. `I feel the market would trade flat for a couple of trading sessions before the Infosys results’, says Nehal Shah, research analyst at Ventura Securities
According to Citigroup’s Q3 IT sector preview, volume growth will remain strong for the IT sector in Q3 but appreciation of rupee against the US dollar will have 90 basis points impact on operating profit margins. It expects marginal uptick in pricing witnessed over last few quarters to continue and it reckons that more clarity on price increases will be key to stock price performance.
FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 262 crore on Thursday 4 January, the day when Sensex had lost 143 points. As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 55 crore on 5 January, the day when Sensex had declined 11 points in volatile trade. FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 139 crore in index-based futures on 5 January. They were net sellers to the tune of Rs 177 crore in individual stock futures on that day.
Asian shares dropped on Monday, led lower by resources and financial stocks, while the yen climbed amid growing expectations the Bank of Japan could raise interest rates as early as next week. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 0.9% to 1.3%. Tokyo's market was closed for a public holiday
US stocks closed lower on Friday (5 January) as a stronger-than-expected US job growth in December cast doubt on hopes for an early US interest rate cut. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 82.68 points, or 0.66 percent, to 12,398.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 8.63 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,409.71. The Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 19.18 points, or 0.78 percent, at 2,434.25.
Oil hovered above $56 a barrel on Monday (8 January) after last week's steep drop to its lowest since mid-2005.