Market may edge higher on firm Asian equities

The market may edge higher tracking firm Asian markets. Asian stocks extended gains on Friday, 30 November 2007, after comments on Thursday, 29 November 2007, by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced expectations that the US central bank was willing to lower interest rates again at the 11 December 2007 meeting. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.45% to 1.1%. But China’s Shanghai Composite index was down 1.87% at 4,909.82.

US stocks ended nearly flat on Thursday, 29 November 2007 and the dollar stayed off its record lows against the euro.

Nifty futures saw a healthy rollover of 76% to December 2007 series from November 2007 series when the November 2007 derivatives contracts expired on Thursday, 29 November 2007. The overall rollover in the futures & options segment was about 72% to 75%.

As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1112.96 crore in the spot market on Thursday, 29 November 2007. Domestic institutions bought shares worth a net Rs 606.25 crore on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,693.39 crore in the futures & options segment on Thursday, 29 November 2007. FIIs were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,575.15 crore and bought index options worth Rs 717.42 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 402.43 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 1.61 crore.

The market has been volatile over the past few days due to alternate bouts of buying and selling amid FII sales caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from US housing slump and credit crisis.

FII outflow in the spot market in November 2007, till 28 November 2007, reached Rs 4872.30 crore. FIIs had made heavy purchases in September 2007 and October 2007. FIIs had bought shares worth a net Rs 16132.60 crore in September 2007 and Rs 20590.90 crore in October 2007

The government will today release data on GDP growth for the second quarter ended 30 September 2007. Analysts expect a moderation of GDP growth in the second quarter from a robust 9.3% growth in the first quarter ended June 2007. The data is expected to hit the market at about 11:00 IST.

The weekly inflation data will be unveiled at about 12:00 IST. Inflation growth was 3.01% in the week ended 10 November 2007 compared with 3.11% in the week ended 3 November 2007.