Market may gain

The market is likely to open higher as Friday’s rally may spill over in opening trade today. Firm global markets and good Q4 March 2008 results have led both the benchmark indices - BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty settled above key levels of 17,600 and 5,200.

The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 312.81 points or 1.81% at 17,600.12 while the broader based S&P CNX Nifty garnered 62.3 points or 1.21% at 5,228.20 on 2 May 2008 tracking firm global markets.

The market clocked gains for a fourth straight week in the week ended Friday, 2 May 2008, tracking firm global markets and on the back of good Q4 March 2008 results. Both the benchmark indices - BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty settled above key levels of 17,600 and 5,200. The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 474.14 points or 2.76% to 17,600.12, in the week ended Friday, 2 May 2008. The S&P CNX Nifty rose 116.50 points or 2.27% to 5228.20, in the week.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 5 May 2008. Straits Times (up 0.64% at 3,256.88) and Shanghai Composite (up 0.66% to 3,717.43), gained.

However, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.84% at 8,888.24) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (down 0.20% at 26,187.96), slipped.

On Friday, 2 May 2008, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 48.2 points or 0.4% at 13,058.20 after the latest non-farm payroll data showed 20,000 jobs were lost in April, a far better result than an expected loss of 75,000 jobs. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 3.72 or 0.2%, to 2,476.99. The S&P 500 was up 4.56 points to 1,413.90

India's wholesale price index rose 7.57% in 12 months to 19 April 2008, accelerating from the previous week's annual rise of 7.33%, government data released on 2 May 2008 showed. The rate was the highest since a reading of 7.68% on 13 November 2004.

Crude oil for June delivery slipped 7 cents at $116.25 a barrel, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore on speculation rising demand and production disruptions in Nigeria may limit supplies.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 658.34 crore on Friday, 2 May 2008. Domestic funds sold shares worth a net Rs 18 crore on that day.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 1,739.41 crore in the futures & options segment on Friday, 2 May 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,155.03 crore and bought index options worth Rs 526.97 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 59.43 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 2.02 crore.