Market may remain choppy

The market may see volatile movements, as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will be announcing its decision regarding interest rates today, 30 January 2008 (after Indian market hours). Volatility is expected to remain high tomorrow, 31 January 2008 also as expiry of January 2008 derivative contracts.

Third quarter December 2007 results so far have been decent. A total of 1289 companies reported 33.20% rise in net profit on 21.10% rise in net sales for Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 30 January 2008. Hong Kong's Hang Seng (up 0.70% at 24,462.62), Japan's Nikkei (up 0.12% at 13,494.57), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 0.31% at 7,599.98), advanced. However, Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.71% to 3,028.21), South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.99% at 1,621.62) and China’s Shanghai Composite (down 0.54% to 4,433.70) declined.

On Tuesday, 29 January 2008, US markets advanced on expectation that the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates for the second time in a week in a meeting scheduled later during the day. The Fed Fund Futures indicate a near-certainty of a half-point cut.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 96.41 points, or 0.78%, to 12,480.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 8.34 points, or 0.62%, to 1,362.30,and the Nasdaq Composite rose 8.15 points, or 0.35%, to 2,358.06.

Back home, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept key rates - repo rate, reverse repo rate, bank rate and cash reserve ratio, unchanged at its quarterly monetary policy review announced yesterday, 29 January 2008

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 60.84 points or 0.34% at 18,091.94, on Tuesday 29 January 2008. Nifty rose 6.70 points or 0.13% at 5,280.80 in the day.

As per reports, rollover of Nifty futures from January 2008 series to February 2008 series stood at 53% while marketwide rollover was 40%.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 546.09 crore on Tuesday, 29 January 2008. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 98.82 crore

FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 805.80 crore in the futures & options segment on Tuesday, 29 January 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 613.64 crore and bought index options worth Rs 70.71 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 121.47 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 0.03 crore.

Crude oil climbed to a two-week high above $92 a barrel on Wednesday, 30 January 2008 as investors anticipate that a second U.S. interest rate cut this week will overshadow news of a build in U.S. crude stockpiles. US crude rose 75 cents to $92.39 a barrel. London Brent crude were up 57 cents to $92.57 a barrel.