Avoid ambition on the Street!

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.

The market has been moving up for close to five-months now. No harm in getting a little lazy with your fund allocation. Skyrocketing small-caps are often a sign of trouble ahead. With no clear signals from global markets, looks like we are going to have a subdued end to the week. Interest from foreign as well as local funds was quite anemic on Thursday. Today may not be much different.

We expect a cautious start and the usual choppy session. Most market players could ‘wait-and-watch’ before taking a fresh call. The near-term target on the Nifty is 4750-4800. For the Nifty to decisively cross the 5000-mark in the next few weeks, we would need very firm backing from global cues and an even stronger commitment from funds.

In the meantime, the party may continue on the side counters. Absence of fresh positive triggers could also keep a lid on further gains. At the same time, downside will be limited as plenty of players – who have missed out on the recent spurt - are ready to jump in.

FIIs were net sellers at Rs414.7mn in the cash segment on Thursday on a provisional basis while the local funds pumped in Rs292.2mn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds turned net sellers at Rs5.15bn. On Wednesday, FIIs were net buyers at Rs10.36bn in the cash segment.

Meanwhile, borrowing in dollars has become cheaper than borrowing in Japanese yen for the first time in 16 years, a sign that fear in the credit markets has eased significantly. Signs that the battered US housing market is stabilizing, prompted investors to commit about $12bn of fresh money to a wide range of fund groups in late August. According to EPFR Global, 21 of the 24 major fund groups posted inflows for the week ending Aug. 26.

Global markets danced to the tune of the Shanghai Composite index last week. But, lately the movement in the Chinese market hardly causes a flutter in other world markets. By the way, the benchmark Chinese index is down 3% today.

The head of Britain's financial services regulator says he would back the idea of a global tax on financial transactions. He also adds that the financial sector has grown too big.

US stocks rose on Thursday, with the Dow extending its winning streak to eight straight sessions in a thinly-traded advance fueled by bank shares and Boeing. Dell reported weaker sales and earnings that beat expectations, in a profit report that was released minutes before the close of trading, ahead of schedule. Dell shares gained 6.5% in extended-hours trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 37 points, or 0.4%. The blue-chip average ended higher for the eighth session in a row, marking its longest winning streak since the period ended April 10, 2007. The S&P 500 index gained 3 points, or 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite added 3 points, or 0.2%.

In Wednesday's session, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq had closed at their highest levels since last fall.

Wall Street has essentially risen for the last five months, with the S&P 500 ending Wednesday's session up 52% from the 12-year low it hit on March 9. But the pace of the run, coupled with light August trading volume, has left markets churning over the last two weeks.

Better-than-expected economic news - and a healthy infusion of monetary and fiscal stimulus - drove the rally. But the latest batch of economic reports have had less of an impact on investor sentiment.

Gross Domestic Product declined at a 1.0% annual pace in the second quarter, unchanged from the initial reading last month. Economists had forecast a decline in GDP to the tune of 1.5%. In the first quarter, GDP declined at a 6.4% annualized rate.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment last week dipped to 570,000 from a revised 580,000 the previous week. Economists had predicted claims to fall to 565,000.

The price of oil turned higher, erasing morning lows. Oil hit 10-month highs earlier in the week. US light crude oil for October delivery rose $1.06 to settle at $72.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of AIG rallied 27% after the company's CEO told Reuters that he doesn't support a fire sale of the insurer's assets. New CEO Robert Benmosche said in a year, people will say the bailed-out insurer is performing well. The stock has jumped 274% in August alone.

Dow component Boeing said it will have its long-in-the works 787 Dreamliner in the air by the end of the year and that it will make deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2010. The airplane manufacturer said it will take a non-cash charge of $2.5 billion, or $2.21 per share, in the third quarter. Shares rallied 8.7%.

Toll Brothers reported a quarterly loss of $2.93 per share, versus a loss of 18 cents a year ago. The luxury homebuilder was expected to report a loss of $1.79 per share. Toll Brothers also reported a drop in revenue that nonetheless managed to top estimates.

The number of financial institutions on the government's watch list surpassed 400 in the second quarter, the highest level in 15 years, the government said.

Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.47% from 3.43% late on Wednesday.

Treasury sold $42 billion of 2-year notes on Tuesday, $39 billion of five-year notes on Wednesday. The sale of $28 billion of 7-year notes on Thursday saw a weaker-than-expected demand, but it didn't seem to impact the bond market much.

COMEX gold for December delivery rose $6 to settle at $951.80 an ounce. In currency trading, the dollar rose versus the euro and fell versus the Japanese yen.

Reports are due on Friday on July personal income and spending from the Commerce Department and August consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.

European shares lost ground, as losses for liquor giant Diageo and weakness for automakers offset gains scored by Credit Agricole and utilities. The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index fell 0.5% to 235.24, extending a Wednesday decline that had snapped a four-session winning run.

Germany's DAX 30 index was down 0.9% to 5,470.33, while the French CAC-40 index lost 0.5% to 3,648.53 and the UK's FTSE 100 rose slipped 0.4% to 4,869.35.

The NSE Nifty hit the 4,700 mark for the first time since first week of August, 2009 however was unable to hold on to the psychological level as the bulls and bears fought it out on F&O expiry day.

Volatile trades were witnessed throughout the day with the small-cap and mid-cap stocks continuing to play catch-up with their frontline counterparts. The Consumer Durables, Capital Goods and Pharma stocks were among the major gainers.

IT major like Infosys, TCS and Satyam attracted fresh buying while, Retail stocks like Shoppers Stop and Pantaloon Retails posted healthy gains.

The export-oriented sectors hogged the limelight as the government announced the Foreign Trade Policy. The Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that the Government is aiming to achieve an export target of US$200bn by the end of fiscal year 2010-11. This will represent an increase of 15% over the export of fiscal year 2009-10. India's exports reached US$168bn in the fiscal year 2008-09 from US$63bn in FY04 and is expected to remain flat in the year ending March 2010. Click here to read more...

The BSE Sensex ended higher by 11 points at 15,781 after touching a high of 15,854 and a low of 15,685. The index opened at 14,712 against the previous close of 15,770. The NSE Nifty gained by 7 points to shut shop at 4,688.

In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan slipped by 1.5% at 10,474 while Australia's S&P/ASX ended flat at 4,450. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 1% at 20,242. Shanghai index in China fell by 0.8% at 2,964.

In Europe, stocks were trading flat with a positive bias. The FTSE in the UK was up 0.2%. The DAX in Germany was up 0.2% and the CAC 40 index in France was up 2%.

Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the Consumer Durables index was the top gainer, gaining 4.1%, followed by the Capital Goods index that was up 1.1%. The BSE Pharma index up 1.1% and the BSE Teck index was up 0.7%.

The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.4% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained by 0.4%.

Among the 30-components of Sensex, 15 stocks ended in the green and 15 ended in the negative terrain. Among the major gainers were Bharti Airtel, Wipro, Tata Power, L&T, Sterlite and BHEL.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, HUL, Hero Honda and DLF were among the major laggards.

Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were GMDC, Videocon Ind, Divis Labs, Glaxo, Sintex and Mundra Port. On the other hand, losers included Shriram Transport, Rolta, RNRL, RIIL and LITL.

Tata Steel group posted a loss of Rs22.1bn in the Q1 as against Rs39bn profit in the same period last year. Group sales were at Rs231.8bn as against Rs422.7bn a decline of 46.5% YoY. Other income was at Rs2.04bn versus Rs526.9mn in the corresponding year.

Shares of Tata Steel lost by over 5% to Rs436. The stock opened at Rs456 and made an intra-day high of Rs459 and a low of Rs426. Total traded volumes stood at 46mn shares.

Bharti Airtel is reportedly planning to offer MTN Group US$13.1bn in cash and shares for acquiring a 49% stake in the South African telecom major and the two sides are close to an agreement, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). There is no certainty that the MTN shareholders will agree to the Bharti Airtel offer, and could ask for a higher offer from the Indian company, the US-based financial newspaper said in its online edition today. Shareholders holding a combined 75% in MTN must approve the deal.

The deal’s outlined in May this year involved a complex structure in which both the firms would pay cash and equity for stakes in each other. As per that deal, Bharti Airtel was to get a 49% stake in MTN and the South African telco and its shareholders were to get a 36% economic interest in the Indian counterpart. According to the original deal, Bharti Airtel was also to get US$2.9bn in cash from MTN.

Shares of Bharti Airtel ended higher by 3% to Rs416.5. The stock opened at Rs401 and made an intra-day high of Rs422 and a low of Rs401. Total traded volumes stood at 0.64mn shares.

Shares of BHEL gained by 1.5% to Rs2329 after the company announced that it won order worth Rs1.9bn. The stock opened at Rs2304 and made an intra-day high of Rs2342 and a low of Rs2275. Total traded volumes stood at 73,000 shares.

Shares of IVRCL Infra erased early gains and ended lower by 1.2% to Rs359. The stock shot up to an intra-day high of Rs369 after the company bagged an order worth Rs5.83bn water project related to drinking water supply in Mumbai and circulating water supply systems for power plants.

Total traded volumes in the stock stood at 0.45mn shares on the BSE.

Shares of Indiabulls Real Estate lost by over 3.5% to Rs270 after a redevelopment project in Maharashtra state that the company may be involved in may be scrapped, stated reports. The stock opened at Rs275 and made an intra-day high of Rs275 and a low of Rs263. Total traded volumes stood at 2.7mn shares.

Shares of HT Media erased gains and ended lower by 0.5% to Rs118. According to reports, the company may spin off its Hindi-language business. The stock shot up by over 6% to hit an intra-day high of Rs128.

The company may decide in two to three months whether to spin off the Hindi-language business, which accounts for 30% of sales, CEO Rajiv Verma said.

Hindustan Zinc announced that it hiked the prices of zinc and lead. The price of zinc was increased by Rs1,300 per share or 1.2%, to Rs106,900per metric ton. Lead prices were also increased by Rs9,200 or 8.7% to Rs114,800 per a ton.

The stock was down by 2.6% to Rs726. It opened at Rs745 and made an intra-day high of Rs746 and a low of Rs721. Total traded volumes stood at 20,000 shares.

Cycle manufacturing and distributing companies have hogged the limelight in the past couple of trading session with the stocks like Atlas Cycles and Hercules Hoist among the major gainers.

Shares of Atlas Cycles have shot up by over 5% and Hercules Hoist has rallied by over 21% in past 5 days.

Shares of BGR Energy gained by 2.5% to Rs460 after the company was awarded the Balance of Plant contract for 2 x 500 MW Marwa Thermal Power Project worth Rs16.33bn.

Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Ltd., is setting up the 2 x 500 MW Marwa Thermal Power Project at Marwa of Janjgir - Champa District in Chhattisgarh State.

The stock opened at Rs449 and made an intra-day high of Rs479 and a low of Rs449. Total traded volumes stood at 0.36mn shares.