Market seen range-bound on mixed global cues

Key benchmark indices are likely to remain range-bound on mixed global cues. Asian markets were trading mixed today, 20 October 2008 while US markets ended lower on Friday, 17 October 2008. Volatility may remain high ahead of the derivatives expiry for October 2008 series on Thursday, 23 October 2008.

Meanwhile, US crude rose $2 to $71.85 a barrel, on Friday, 17 October 2008 spurred by a broader rise across financial markets and expectations OPEC could cut output at an emergency meeting next week.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 20 October 2008. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.73% or 14 points at 1,916.65, South Korea's Seoul Composite declined 0.92% or 10.91 points at 1,169.76, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted fell 0.45% or 21.60 points at 4,817.04. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.90% or 277.01 points at 14,831.22, Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.53% or 45.88 points at 8,739.70 and Singapore's Straits Times gained 1.17% or 21.89 points at 1,900.40.

US stocks fell on Friday, 17 October 2008 on weakness in manufacturing and financial stocks after bleak data on consumer confidence and construction. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 127.04 points, or 1.41%, to 8,852.22, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 5.88 points, or 0.62%, to 940.55. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 6.42 points, or 0.37%, to 1,711.29.

Back home, bears ruled the roost on the bourses on Friday, 17 October 2008 on global recession worries, with the BSE Sensex falling below the psychological 10,000 mark for the first time in more than two years. The BSE 30-share Sensex lost 606.14 points or 5.73% to 9,975.35 and the S&P CNX Nifty was down 194.95 points or 5.96% to 3,074.35, on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers worth Rs 915.54 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 712.77 crore on Friday, 17 October 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.