Market seen weak on negative global cues

Key benchmark indices are geared for weak session of trade today, 26 August 2008 mirroring negative global markets on renewed fears of credit market crisis. Volatility will remain high ahead of the expiry of derivative contracts for the August 2008 on Thursday, 28 August 2008.

As per reports, marketwide rollover of positions from August 2008 series to September 2008 series stood at 31% while that of Nifty was at 28%, as of Monday, 25 August 2008.

Crude for October 2008 delivery rose 37 cents to $115.48 a barrel today, 26 August 2008 supported by worries that tropical storm Gustav in the Caribbean would turn into a hurricane and disrupt oil output in the Gulf of Mexico.

Asian markets were trading weak today, 26 August 2008. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.94% or 22.71 points at 2,390.66, Japan's Nikkei tumbled 1.31% or 169.14 points at 12,709.52, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.70% or 147.18 points at 20,957.61, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted lost 0.87% or 61.28 points at 6,969.44, Singapore's Straits Times plunged 1.14% or 31.03 points at 2,702.42 and South Korea's Seoul Composite was down 0.16% or 2.35 points at 1,499.76.

US markets plunged yesterday, 25 August 2008, led by financials as AIG tumbled to a 13- year low, while Washington Mutual led other financial companies lower. The Dow Jones industrial average slumped 241.81 points, or 2.08%, to 11,386.25. The S&P 500 index lost 25.36 points, or 1.96%, to 1,266.84, and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 49.12 points, or 2.03%, to 2,365.59.

The International Monetary Fund has reportedly trimmed its global growth forecasts for 2008 and 2009 in a note prepared for a meeting of the Group of 20 nations.

Back home, profit booking in late trade curtailed gains in key benchmark indices yesterday, 25 August 2008 after a strong start. The BSE 30-share Sensex rose 48.86 points or 0.34% at 14,672.69 and the S&P CNX Nifty rose 7.90 points or 0.18% at 4,335.35, on that day.

The BSE Sensex is down 5,836.64 points or 28.77% in the calendar year 2008 so far from its close of 20,286.99 on 31 December 2007. It is 6756.42 points or 31.84% away from its all-time high of 21,206.77 struck on 10 January 2008.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net equity buyers worth Rs 62.92 crore while mutual funds purchased shares worth Rs 96.26 crore on Monday, 25 August 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 1481.39 crore in the futures & options segment on Monday, 25 August 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 737.06 crore and purchased index options worth Rs 542.34 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 178.20 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 23.79 crore.