Market seen under pressure on weak global cues

Key benchmark indices are likely to open lower today, 10 September 2008 on weak cues from global markets. Volatility is likely to remain high.

Meanwhile the Central bank governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 that India's inflation is showing signs of moderating but it is too early to conclude whether this is a trend and signaled that he would wait and see before taking any fresh steps.

US crude for October 2008 delivery rose 52 cents at $103.78 a barrel today, 10 September 2008 after organisation of petroleum exporting countries surprised traders with a deal to effectively cut production by just over 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from July 2008 levels.

Most Asian markets were trading lower today, 10 September 2008, tracking losses on the Wall Street. China's Shanghai Composite plunged 1.93% or 41.35 points at 2,104.43, Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.06% or 131.11 points at 12,269.54, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 2.12% or 435.31 points at 20,055.80, Singapore's Straits Times fell 1.01% or 26.94 points at 2,646.27, South Korea's Seoul Composite was down 0.02% or 0.35 points at 1,454.15. However, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted gained 0.79% or 50.51 points at 6,475.28

US stocks slumped on Tuesday, 9 September 2008 as financial shares sold off on worries about Lehman Brothers' ability to raise much-needed cash. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 280.01 points, or 2.43%, to 11,230.73. The S&P 500 index fell 43.28 points, or 3.41%, to 1,224.51, and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 59.95 points, or 2.64%, to 2,209.81.

Back home, key benchmark indices ended a choppy session lower on Tuesday, 9 September 2008, weighed by weak Asian markets. The BSE 30-share Sensex declined 44.21 points or 0.3%, to settle at 14,900.76 and the S&P CNX Nifty slipped 13.6 points or 0.3%, to 4468.70, on that day.

The BSE Sensex is down 5386.23 points or 26.55% in the calendar year 2008 so far from its close of 20,286.99 on 31 December 2007. It is 6306.01 points or 29.73% away from its all-time high of 21,206.77 struck on 10 January 2008.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net equity sellers worth Rs 391.53 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 106.27 crore on Tuesday, 9 September 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 33.39 crore in the futures & options segment on Tuesday, 9 September 2008. They were net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 450.28 crore and bought index options worth Rs 43.99 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 577.41 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 49.75 crore.