Sensex to open higher, Wipro eyes

Headlines for the day

BHEL eyes acquisition, JVs in US, Europe

Ranbaxy acquires Biovel, enters vaccine line

ONGC to lend Rs5,000 crore to MRPL for expansion

Hiring picks up across sectors

Cadbury accepts $19.7bn Kraft offer

Events for the day

Major corporate action:

Today’s Results: Dr Reddy, Four Soft, HDFC, HDIL, ICRA, JSW Steel, Kingfisher Airlines, Mahindra Lifespace, Polaris Software, Praj Industries, Raymond, Spice Communication, Sun TV, Triveni Engineering, TV 18, TVS Motor, Yes Bank and Wipro.

Jubilant Foodworks IPO closes today.

Pre-market report

Global signals

On Tuesday, the European shares hit 15 month closing high, FTSE 100 closed 0.34% higher at 5513.

US markets closed higher on Tuesday, as technology shares rises. Nasdaq closed 32 points higher at 2320.

In today's trade, All the Asian indices trading higher, except Hang Seng and Shanghai composite that trading lower by 1% each. At the time of writing this report SGX Nifty trading higher by 11 points.

Indian markets

The domestic indices are expected to open higher, and remain volatile following strong global markets.

Among the local indices, the Nifty could test the 5300-5325 range on the up side, while on the down side it could find support at 5180 and 5200. While the Sensex is likely to get support at 17300 and may face resistance at 17800.

Indian ADR's

Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, al the ADRs closed higher except Satyam and Dr Reddy. HDFC Bank surged the most with gain of 7.74% followed by ICICI Bank that advanced 5.39%.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, wherein the Crude oil prices recorded marginal decline, with the Nymex light crude oil for February series down by $0.40 to settle at $78.63 a barrel.

In the metals space, Comex Gold for February series rise by $10.00 to settle at $1140.50 to a troy ounce.

In the metals space, Comex Silver for March series rise by $0.37 to settle at $18.80 to a troy ounce.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On January 19, 2010, FIIs were the net buyers of the Indian Stocks in the tune of Rs294.70 crore (with the gross purchase of Rs2619.90 crore and gross sales of Rs2325.20 crore).

While the Domestic mutual funds, on January 18, 2010, were the net seller of the stocks in the tune of Rs115.00 crore (with gross purchase of Rs506.50 crore and gross sales of Rs621.50 crore).