Market seen opening firm

Key benchmark indices are likely to open firm tracking positive Asian markets which were boosted by the US Federal Reserve's announcement of two new efforts to unfreeze credit for homebuyers, consumers and small businesses, committing up to $800 billion. The SGX November 2008 Nifty futures were up 39.50 points.

However volatility may rise ahead of the derivatives expiry for November 2008 series on Thursday, 27 November 2008. As per reports, rollover of Nifty positions from November 2008 to December 2008 series stood at 39% while marketwide rollover of positions was 45%, as on Tuesday, 25 November 2008.

The central bank will purchase as much as $600 billion in debt issued or backed by government-chartered housing finance companies. It will set up a $200-billion programme to support consumer and small-business loans, the Fed said in a statement on Tuesday,24 November 2008 in Washington.

Meanwhile, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission on Tuesday, 24 November 2008 scaled down India's FY09 GDP to 7%. However, Finance Minister P Chidambaram estimates growth to be between 7% and 8% in FY09. According to him the current account deficit will go up. But, he feels India is nowhere close to a recession despite the crisis having worsened.

Most Asian markets were trading firm today, 25 November 2008. China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.32% or 5.98 points at 1,894.70, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 2.39% or 307.39 points at 13,185.99, Singapore's Straits Times advanced 0.75% or 12.46 points at 1,665.71, South Korea's Seoul Composite surged 3.52% or 34.66 points at 1,017.98, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted added 1.09% or 46.69 points at 4,313.18. However, Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.30% or 108.27 points at 8,215.66

US markets ended mixed on Monday, 24 November 2008 even as the treasury commits up to $800 billion in two new programs to unfreeze credit markets & buy mortgage-related debt. On the economic data front, the US economy contracted by 0.50% in the third quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 36.08 points, or 0.43%, to 8,479.47. The S&P 500 gained 5.58 points, or 0.66%, to 857.39. The Nasdaq Composite index slipped 7.29 points, or 0.50%, to 1,464.73.

Back home, in a complete reversal of trend, the market lost ground on Tuesday, 24 November 2008 on concerns about sharply deteriorating major global economies. The BSE 30-share Sensex lost 207.59 points or 2.33%, to 8,695.53 and the S&P CNX Nifty fell 54.25 points or 2% to 2654, on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers worth Rs 161.88 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 155.09 crore on Tuesday, 25 November 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.