Sensex to open gap-up

Headlines for the day

Budget may signal end to issue of oil bonds - Business Line

Auto, cooking fuel prices may rise - Business Standard

New loan pricing regime from April - Business Standard

Base rate to replace BPLR from April 1 - Business Line

Tata Consultancy to add 30,000 staff in FY11 - DNA Money

Events for the day

Major corporate action:

Ex-date for interim dividend of Dalmia Cement & Graviss Hospitality

Hathway Cable & Datacom Ltd IPO closes today

ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd IPO closes today

Weekly Inflation to be out today

IIP Numbers for December to be out today

Pre-market report

Global signals

The European stocks closed higher on third consecutive day on hopes of possible European Union bailout plan for Greece. FTSE 100 closed 0.39% higher at 5132.

On Wednesday, US markets closed marginally lower; Nasdaq closed 0.14% lower.

In today's trade, All the Asian indices are trading in positive territory. Japan’ Nikkei and Taiwan markets closed today. At the time of writing of this report SGX Nifty trades 35 points higher.

Indian markets

Domestic market set to open higher on the back positive signals that are coming from the global markets.

Among the local indices, the Nifty could test the 4800-4850 range on the up side, while on the down side it could find support at 4680 and 4700. While the Sensex is likely to get support at 15700 and may face resistance at 16300.

Indian ADR's

Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, HDFC Bank surged the most with gains of 1.25%, while Patni Computer slid the most with loss of 3.51%

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, wherein the Crude oil prices recorded marginal gain, with the Nymex light crude oil for March series up by $0.37 to settle at $74.86 a barrel.

In the metals space, Comex Gold for April series declined by $1.10 to settle at $1076.10 to a troy ounce.

In the metals space, Comex Silver for March series declined by $0.11 to settle at $15.33 to a troy ounce.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On February 10, 2010, FIIs were the net sellers of the Indian Stocks in the tune of Rs395.60 crore (with the gross purchase of Rs1978.80 crore and gross sales of Rs2374.40 crore).

While the Domestic mutual funds, on February 09, 2010, were the net buyers of the stocks in the tune of Rs259.30 crore (with gross purchase of Rs669.90 crore and gross sales of Rs410.50 crore).