Market may edge higher

The market may edge higher after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced an infusion of $5 billion in Goldman Sachs Group. US stocks futures rose after the news which was announced after the US markets had closed on Tuesday, 23 September 2008. Goldman will sell $5 billion of preferred stock to Berkshire Hathaway, which will also receive warrants to purchase $5 billion of common stock with a strike price of $115 per share. Berkshire has five years to exercise the warrants.

Asian markets were mostly in the green today, 24 September 2008. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea were up by between 0.26% to 1.3%. Key benchmark indices in Japan and China were down by between 0.9% to 2.2%.

US stocks fell on Tuesday, 23 September 2008, on fear that congressional wrangling could delay a proposed $700 billion plan to rescue the financial sector, increasing worries about the struggling US economy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 161.52 points, or 1.47%, to end at 10,854.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 18.87 points, or 1.56%, to 1,188.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 25.64 points, or 1.18%, to 2,153.34.

Meanwhile, a US-India civilian nuclear cooperation agreement moved closer to approval by Congress on Tuesday, 23 September 2008, when a key Senate Committee passed the deal with a landslide majority. However, the historic agreement is yet to clear a few hurdles in its final lap. The bill now goes to the floor of the Senate for the final ratification.

As per the provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign funds on Tuesday, 23 September 2008, sold shares worth a net Rs 924.40 crore. Domestic fund bought shares worth a net Rs 68.77 crore.

The September 2008 contracts expire on Thursday, 25 September 2008. Roll over in Nifty futures till Tuesday, 23 September 2008, was about 40%.

Meanwhile, trading on the bourses will be extended to 16:15 IST starting today due to Sun Outage. Trading will start as usual at 9:55 IST and close at 16:15 IST. On BSE, there will be no trading from 11:25 IST to 12:10 IST as there will be signal problems during this time