Market to witness volatility

The market is expected to see volatile movements as January 2008 derivative contacts are set for expiry today, 31 January 2008. Meanwhile, in an crucial event the US Federal Reserve yesterday, 30 January 2008, cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 3% to prevent the US economy from sinking into a recession.

As per reports, rollover of Nifty futures from January 2008 series to February 2008 series stood at 66% while marketwide rollover was 57%, till Wednesday, 30 January 2008.

Third quarter December 2007 results so far have been decent. A total of 1540 ompanies reported 32.40% rise in net profit on 21.20% rise in net sales in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 31 January 2008. Japan's Nikkei (up 0.55% at 13,417.98), South Korea's Seoul Composite (up 0.97% at 1,604.51) rose. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng (d0wn 0.25% at 23,593.75), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 1.11% at 7,460.07) and Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.41% at 2,987.73) declined.

US markets declined on Wednesday, 30 January 2008, paring early gains after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates half a percentage point. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 37.47 points, or 0.30%, at 12,442.83. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 9.06 points, or 0.38%, to 2,349.00.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 344.98 points or 1.91% at 17746.96 on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was down 113.20 points or 2.14% at 5167.60 on that day

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 911 crore on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 723.11 crore on that day.

FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,630.05 crore in the futures & options segment on Wednesday, 30 January 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 290.55 crore and bought index options worth Rs 462.40 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 880.83 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 3.73 crore.

Meanwhile the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has decided to reduce the costs for mutual fund investors by doing away with the initial issue fee for close-ended schemes. The Sebi board, which met yesterday, 30 January 2008 also cleared the draft proposal for listing debt securities, eased disclosure norms for existing debt market securities and paved the way for permanent registration of capital market intermediaries