Market to gain

The market is expected to gain ground as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) may resort to buying to shore their net asset values, for the calendar year 2007. Mutual funds, too, may lend support to prop up their net assets value for the quarter ending December 2007.

Asian markets were trading firm today, 31 December 2007. Hang Seng (up 1.05% at 27,657.78), Straits Times (up 0.79% at 3,473.03) and Taiwan Weighted (up 0.58% to 8,446.26) rose. Markets in Japan, China, Indonesia and South Korea were closed.

US markets ended on a mixed note on Friday, 28 December 2007, after new home sales declined 9% in November 2007 to an annualized rate of 6,47,000 units. The Dow Jones industrial average was up marginally by 6 points at 13,366. The Nasdaq Composite index was down 2 points at 2,674.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 9.77 points or 0.05% to 20,206.95, on Friday, 28 December 2007. The broader CNX S&P Nifty fell 1.80 points or 0.03% to 6079.70 on that day.

The BSE Sensex surged 1,044.38 points or 5.45% to 20,206.95, in the week ended 28 December 2007. The S&P CNX Nifty jumped 313.2 points or 5.43% to 6,079.70 in the week.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 653.76 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 166.69 crore on Friday, 28 December 2007.

FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 476.93 crore in the futures & options segment on Friday, 28 December 2007. They were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 241.45 crore and bought index options worth Rs 868.65 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 1,104.76 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 0.63 crore.

India's wholesale price index rose 3.45% in the 12 months to 15 December 2007, lower than the previous week's rise of 3.65%, government data showed on Friday, 28 December 2007.