Sensex to open marginally higher

Headlines for the day

Reliance Power Commissions First Unit of Rosa plant; Plans 3000 Megawatts by 2012: DNA Money

3G spectrum auction likely by end of February: Business Standard

Reliance making profit of 20k crore from KG gas, RNRL tells SC: Economic Times

Lower realisations may hit steel cos' profits in Q3: Hindu Business Line

Power Grid plans 7 transmission corridors: Hindu Business Line

Events for the day

Major corporate action:

Ex-date for bonus issue of Webel-SL Energy Systems Ltd in the ratio of 1:1

Pre-market report

Global signals

On Monday, the European stocks closed higher for fifth consecutive session. London Stock Exchange was closed on Monday.

The US markets closed higher on Monday for sixth consecutive session, as good consumer-spending numbers helped shares of retailers. Nasdaq closed at 2291, 5 points higher

In today's trade, Asian indices showed the mixed trend. As indices like Straits Times & Jakarta Composite are trading in green, while Indices like Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei are trading in negative territory. At the time of writing this report, SGX Nifty is trading 13 points higher.

Indian markets

The domestic indices are expected to open marginal higher, remain volatile due to mixed signals are coming from the global markets.

Among the local indices, the Nifty could test the 5197-5225 range on the up side, while on the down side it could find support at 5100 and 5150. While the Sensex is likely to get support at 17000 and may face resistance at 17500.

Indian ADR's

Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Communications & Patni Computers are the only stock that end the day with gains. While rest of the ADRs end the day lower.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, wherein the Crude oil prices recorded marginal gain, with the Nymex light crude oil for February series rose by $0.95 to settle at $79.00 a barrel.

In the metals space, Comex Gold for February series surges marginally by $3.00 to settle at $1107.80 to a troy ounce.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On December 24, 2009, FIIs were the net buyers of the Indian Stocks in the tune of Rs1353.50 crore (with the gross purchase of Rs2467.50 crore and gross sales of Rs1114.00 crore).

While the Domestic mutual funds, on December 23, 2009, were the net buyer of the stocks in the tune of Rs101.00 crore (with gross purchase of Rs823.70 crore and gross sales of Rs722.70 crore).