Pre Market Outlook - March 31 2008

The BSE Sensex ended the day with a huge gain of 355.73 points, or 2.22%, at 16,371.29; while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 4942.00, up 111.75, or 2.31% (Friday).

Broker`s Outlook
Alex Mathew Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said, `` Nifty closed above 4741 consecutively for the last 4 days. Short covering above 4909 has given a trigger to the bulls to pull up the Nifty towards 5091 in the short run.

He also added, ``Higher PC ratio and falling volatility are supportive elements to bulls. Fresh buying is also visible ahead of quarterly numbers. We had seen massive buying in Infosys along with Wipro and TCS. Infosys is coming out with the quarterly numbers on Apr. 15, 2008. Market enthusiasm may remain for another couple of days.``

Asian markets started the week on a negative note. The market declined in the early session of trade on Monday (Mar. 31, 2008) on speculation that U.S. consumer spending is declining and after a newspaper reported that UBS AG will need more capital, raising concern that credit market losses will widen.

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei declined 192.64 points, or 1.50%, to trade at 12,627.83. Hong Kong`s index Hang Seng lost 313.03 points, or 1.34%, to trade at 22,972.92. South Korea`s KOSPI declined 3.62 points, or 0.21%, to trade at 1,698.21.

US Stocks declined on Friday following a report that showed personal spending at its weakest growth in 17 months and a profit warning from J.C. Penney Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell by 0.70%, to 12216. NASDAQ composite index fell by 0.87%, to 2261.

Oil prices dropped on Friday (March 28) as fears of a major disruption of Iraqi crude exports vanished after the restart of a crude pipeline system in Iraq. Light sweet crude for May delivery fell USD 1.96 to settle at USD 105.62 a barrel Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

April gasoline futures rose 0.07 cent to settle at USD 2.717 a gallon. The retail gas prices rose 0.8 cent overnight, to USD 3.275 a gallon. April heating oil futures fell 4.33 cents to settle at USD 3.105 a gallon at the NYMEX.

Via IRIS