Market seen extending gains on strong global cues

Key benchmark indices are likely to extend Thursday's 12 March 2009 rally on the back of surge in global markets. The SGX Nifty futures for March 2009 series jumped 67 points in Singapore.

Asian markets gained mirroring overnight rally in US markets. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.41% and 4.63%.

US stocks spurted on Thursday, 12 March 2009, on relief that a ratings cut by S&P in General Electric was just one notch and that no further cuts loomed, while retail sales data showed some stabilisation in consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 239.66 points, or 3.46%, to 7,170.06, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 29.38 points, or 4.07%, to 750.74 and the Nasdaq Composite index added 54.46 points, or 3.97%, to 1,426.10.

On Thursday, 12 March 2009 Bank of America followed Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co in saying it was profitable in the first two months of 2009, easing concerns about the global credit crisis that has caused writedowns and losses at institutions worldwide to swell to more than $1.2 trillion.

Back home, Key benchmark indices advanced on Thursday, 12 March 2009, attempting to catch up with the global markets which surged in the past two days on 10 and 11 March 2009 while the local markets were shut for holiday. Expectations of further cut in policy rates by the central bank helped the market shrugged off weak data on industrial output whereas easing inflation raised hopes for further monetary-policy easing.

The BSE 30-share Sensex jumped 183.35 points, or 2.25%, to 8,343.75 and the S&P CNX Nifty advanced 44.30 points, or 1.72%, to 2,617.45.

According to provisional data on NSE, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers worth Rs 186.66 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 227.10 crore on Thursday, 12 March 2009.

Industrial production declined for the third time in fours months in January 2009, government data released during trading hours on Thursday, 12 March 2009 showed. The index of industrial production (IIP) declined 0.5% in January 2009 against a upwardly revised 0.6% decline in December 2008. Industrial production had risen 6.18% in January 2008.

Manufacturing and mining contracted at 0.8% and 0.4% respectively while capital goods, consumer durables and consumer goods expanded at 15.4%, 2.5% and 1.1% respectively.

Inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) rose 2.43% in the year through 28 February 2009, much lower than previous week's 3.03% rise, data released by the government on Thursday, 12 March 2009 showed. It was the smallest annual rise in inflation since 8 June 2002 when inflation was at 2.18%. Its lowest ever was 1.13% on 2 February 2002. However, the inflation for the year through 3 January 2009 was revised upwards to 5.33% from 5.24%.

The National Stock Exchange had earlier said that trading would continue in the normal course from 5 March 2009 to 19 March 2009 despite Sun Outage between 11:45 IST to 12:25 IST. The exchange has advised members to use alternative mode of connectivity instead of VSAT during the above mentioned period for continuing trading without any disruptions on account of Sun outage.

Earlier on 25 February 2009, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had informed the NSE that there would be Sun Outage from 5 March 2009 to 19 March 2009 between 11:45 IST to 12:25 IST due to which trading members may face connectivity problems at different times on different dates based on geographical location during this period.