Flat start likely; March F&O expiry eyed

Headlines for the day:

Zain okays Bharti bid

RBI hints at further rate rise

Bosch settles wage talks at Bangalore plant

Events for the day:

Major corporate action

F&O expiry for the month of March
Weekly inflation to be announced today
For more events, log on to Sharekhan.com
Results: Henkel India, Kesar Petro, and Wyeth

Pre-market report

Global signals

On Wednesday, March 24, 2010, the European stocks ended flat, with Shire stock leading pharmaceuticals up as it gained from a competitor's problems, and as the market shrugged off a Fitch downgrade of Portugal's sovereign debt.

The US markets closed lower on Wednesday, as Portugal's credit rating downgrade and a weak Treasury note auction stirred concerns about sovereign debt.

In today's trade, the Asian indices are trading mix. At the time of writing this report, SGX Nifty was trading 20.50 point lower.

Indian markets

As the Fitch downgrade of Portugal's sovereign debt hit major of the global indices, the domestic markets are expected to open flat on the back of mixed signals from the global markets. Owing to the March month's F&O expiry ahead today, the markets are expected to be volatile.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, the Crude oil prices reported loss, with the Nymex light crude oil for the April series down by $14.90 per barrel, whereas in the metals space, the Comex Gold for the April series declined by $0.38 and the Comex Silver for the May series was down by $1.30 to a troy ounce respectively.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On March 23, 2010, FIIs were the net buyers of the Indian stocks to the tune of Rs270.50 crore, whereas the domestic mutual funds, on March 22, 2010, were the net sellers of the stocks to the tune of Rs359.50 crore.