Market seen extending Friday's gains

Key benchmark indices are seen extending Friday's gains supported by firm global cues. The SGX Nifty futures for September 2009 expiry rose 19 points in Singapore. Investors response for the Oil India initial public offer which opens today will be closely watched

Asian markets were trading firm today, 7 September 2009 led by Chinese shares on hopes that Beijing will continue to use policy to support asset prices. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan rose by between 0.04% and 1.60%.

Among the factors cited by analysts for a broad rise in Asian equity prices were a pledge by G20 leaders over the weekend to keep stimulus measures in place for longer and draft rules from China allowing more foreign portfolio investment.

US markets advanced on Friday, 4 September 2009 led by technology stocks following encouraging comments from Intel's CEO, offsetting a mixed jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 96.66 points, or 1.03%, to 9,441.27. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 13.16 points, or 1.31%, to 1,016.40. The Nasdaq Composite index soared 35.58 points, or 1.79%, to 2,018.78

In economic data, the unemployment rate jumped to a 26-year high of 9.7% even as layoffs seemed to be tapering off, data released by the Labor Department on Friday, 4 September 2009 showed. The report showed that 216,000 non-farm payrolls were slashed in August that marked the lowest job loss tally in one-year.

Back home, investors response for the Oil India (OIL) initial public offer which opens for subscription on Monday, 7 September 2009, will be closely watched as it will set the tone for others companies tapping the primary market for fund raising.

The Oil India initial public offer (IPO) will open for bidding on 7 September 2009 and close on 11 September 2009. OIL, which produces 3.5 million tonnes of oil annually, will be listed on the bourses on 29 September 2009. The government has fixed Rs 950-1,050 per share price band for the initial public offering of Oil India (OIL), the second state-run firm to hit the market this year after NHPC, and will raise up to Rs 4,982 crore.

The IPO response will be closely watched after recently listed power companies, NHPC and Adani Power received a tepid response on their listing day.

Meanwhile industry confidence on the economy has improved after the government's stimulus packages, according to a survey by Ficci. A majority of the respondents said the packages had spurred firms to raise their activities.

Ficci's business confidence survey for the first quarter of 2009-10 showed that business confidence index for the April-June period moved up to 67.2 from 64.1 in the last quarter of 2008-09 (January-March).

However, the poor progress and spread of monsoon this year could put a damper on economic growth, the chamber found on the flip side.

The BSE 30-share Sensex advanced 290.79 points or 1.89% to 15,689.12 and the S&P CNX Nifty gained 86.85 points or 1.89% to 4,680.40 on Friday, 4 September 2009.

As per the provisional figures on NSE, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 399.62 crore and domestic funds sold shares worth Rs 5.35 crore on Friday, 4 September 2009.