You can go a long way with bad legs and a good head - Gavin McDonald.
Call it window dressing, short-covering or anything you like; the indices which struggled for some time post the Budget, is now steadily moving up. The Nifty now looks set to conquer its previous 52-week high of 5311 shortly, unless something untoward takes place in the interim.
FII inflows have been consistently positive but the local funds have been sellers. With the fiscal year drawing to a close, there may be some ‘window dressing’ by the local funds to perk up NAVs. If that does happen, the Nifty could well scale new heights. Even as the markets move, there is a lingering fear that April may be cruel.
Today we expect a positive opening with markets in the US and Europe hitting new 2010 peaks. Asian markets though are mixed and relatively subdued. Hopefully, that shouldn’t deter the bulls here in India.
In the event of a fresh fall, the Nifty may find support near 5200. One big challenge will be to sustain above 5300 amid growing concerns over stubbornly high inflation and an impending rate hike.
FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Wednesday at Rs8.16bn on a provisional basis. Local funds were net sellers of Rs2.98bn, according to figures published on the NSE's web site. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers of Rs15.31bn.
Shares of public sector lender United Bank of India will be listed on the stock exchanges today. The state-run bank fixed the issue price of its IPO at Rs66 per share - the upper end of its price band - raising Rs3.25bn through the issue. The IPO was subscribed over 33 times.
The Hang Seng Benchmark Exchange Traded Fund (Hang Seng BeES) will be available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) from today as well. Hang Seng Benchmark Exchange Traded Scheme is an open-ended scheme tracking Hang Seng index, which comprises 42 companies, including HSBC Holdings, China Mobile, Bank of China, Cathay Pacific Airways and China Construction Bank Corp.
The Board of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. will meet today to consider a restructuring proposal of the businesses of the company and its subsidiaries. Reports suggest that the company will split into four different units for each of the businesses - cement, sugar, power and refractory.
Indowind Energy Ltd. Board will meet today to consider the Term Loans sanctioned by the banks.
Manappuram General Finance & Leasing Ltd. Board will meet today to consider bonus and stock split.
In global action, US stocks finished higher, propelling the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its longest winning streak since August 2009, as Wall Street rejoiced over the Federal Reserve's decision to hold rates steady.
Investors took comfort from a range of positive economic and corporate factors. The decision by the Fed to keep interest rates low boosted investors’ appetite for risky assets as concerns about regulatory risk in Washington and sovereign debt fears in Greece eased.
European shares rose to a fresh 2010 high, boosted by commodity firms and banks.
The pound sterling rose to a three-week high against the dollar after figures showed a surprise fall in UK unemployment last month. As prices move above $82 a barrel, the OPEC cartel has agreed to keep production at current levels as expected.
US stocks rallied on Wednesday, with the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all closing at new fresh 2010 highs, after the US and Japanese central banks chose to keep interest rates low and the Senate passed a key jobs bill.
The Dow added 48 points, or 0.6%, closing at 10,733.67. It was the highest close since 10,831.07 on Oct. 1, 2008. The Dow has now risen for seven sessions in a row, its longest winning streak since the 8-day period that ended on August 27 of last year.
The S&P 500 index rose 7 points, or 0.6%, closing at 1,166.21, the highest close since 1,213.01 on Sept. 26, 2008. Energy and financial shares paced sector gains among the index's 10 industry groups.
The Nasdaq was up 10 points, or 0.5%, at 2,389.09, its highest point since 2,411.64 on Aug. 28, 2008.
Stocks were moderately higher in the morning, but picked up the pace in the afternoon after the Senate passed a key jobs bill and the dollar's weakness sparked a rally in commodity prices and stocks.
Advancers beat decliners by a more than a 2-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange, where nearly 5.1 billion shares exchanged hands. Year-to-date, daily volume in 2010 has averaged about 4.7 billion, still below last year's daily average of just under 5.5 billion.
Short-term traders are not participating because we don't have the volatility. The CBOE Market Volatility Index is trading under 20 for a third consecutive week.
The dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.
US light crude oil for April delivery roes $1.23 to settle at $82.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for April delivery rose $1.70 to settle at $1,124.20 per ounce.
Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.64% from 3.65% late on Tuesday.
Stocks gained on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve opted to hold interest rates steady, as expected, and said rates should stay near zero percent for the foreseeable future. News that ratings agency Standard & Poor's decided not to downgrade Greece's debt helped soothe fears that the euro zone nation could default.
Stocks have been moving higher fairly steadily over the last few weeks, with the Dow and S&P 500 rising in 14 of the last 15 sessions and the Nasdaq rising in 13 of the last 15 sessions through Wednesday's close.
Stock gains on Tuesday left the S&P 500 at a fresh near 18-month high, the Nasdaq at an 18-month high and the Dow just short of its 2010 peak.
In the day's economic reports, the Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, fell 0.6% in February for the biggest drop since July of last year after being expected to fall 0.2%, according to a consensus of economists. PPI gained 1.4% in January.
The so-called core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% in the month, as expected. Core PPI gained 0.3% in January.
A sustained period of low pricing pressure would enable the Fed to keep interest rates low for a while.
Investors also welcomed Japan's decision to hold interest rates at a low 0.1% and double the amount of money available to banks through a short-term lending program.
The market has found its footing after a selloff in the second half of January and early part of February. However, gains have been modest and trading volume has been low as investors struggle amid a lack of clear catalysts to keep driving the market higher.
Investors are looking for more concrete signs that the US economy is recovering to justify a bigger rally after last year's spectacular advance. In 2009, the Dow gained 19% for the year, and rose 59% from the March 9 lows.
The Senate passed a $17.6 billion jobs bill and sent it to President Obama to sign it into law. The measure, which includes tax breaks and funding for highway projects, has been much debated in both houses of Congress over the last few weeks. It is seen as being the first in a series of bills designed to help bring unemployment down from its current level of 9.7%.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Financial Services Committee about the central bank's supervision of banks. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, an adviser to Obama, also appeared at the hearing.
Across the Atlantic, European shares touched a fresh 2010 high following global central bank decisions to keep interest rates on hold.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.9% to finish at 261.34, moving higher for the second time in three sessions and bringing year-to-date gains to 2.9%. The index's previous 2010 closing high was 260.26, set on Jan. 19.
The UK FTSE 100 index rose 0.4% to close at 5,644.63, while Germany's DAX index settled 0.9% higher at 6,024.28 - the first time it has traded over 6,000 since mid January - and the French CAC-40 index advanced 0.5% to finish at 3,957.89.
Bulls managed to hold on to moderate gains, extending Tuesday’s advance, as global sentiment improved after the Fed hinted that it is in no hurry to raise key rates. While festivities kept a lot of people away from the market yesterday, most players appeared to be back in action today. The traded volume was much better today compared to the last few sessions, and crossed Rs1 lakh crore mark. Finally, the BSE Sensex added 107 points to end at 17,490 after touching a high of 17,478 and a low of 17,389. The NSE Nifty surged 34 points to end at 5,232.
The PSU stocks like NMDC, MMTC, STC and Dredging Corp were among the notable gainers. While, Hindustan Copper hit two months high on reports that the government will shortly announce a share sale in the company. On the other hand, the Realty and the Auto stocks faced some offloading.
Reliance Industries which broke above its 200 day DMA yesterday failed to build on to its rally on account of profit booking.
In Asia, the Nikkei in Japan was up 1.1%, while Australia's S&P/ASX gained by 1.1%. Shanghai SE Composite advanced by 1.9% and Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.7%.
In Europe, stocks were trading with a positive bias. The DAX in Germany was up 0.7%, the CAC 40 index in France was up 0.5% and the FTSE in the UK was up 0.6%.
Coming back to India, among the BSE sectoral indices, the PSU index was the top gainer, adding 2%, followed by the Pharma index that was up 1.7% and the BSE Metal index was up 1.1%. However, the BSE Mid-Cap and BSE Small-Cap index was almost flat.
Outside the frontline indices, the big gainers in the broader market were Hindustan Copper, MMTC, NMDC, Jai Corp and GMDC. On the other hand, losers included Renuka Sugars, Jet Airways, United Spirits and Tulip Tele.
Shares of Reliance Industries ended flat at Rs1066. Reports stated that the company is in talks with Atlas Energy Inc. to invest in the U.S. natural-gas producer’s shale assets.
Reliance plans to buy three Shale gas assets in the US according to reports. The company may acquire a 40% to 50% stake in the US based company and the deal size is likely to be between US$1bn and US$2bn, added reports.
National Aluminium raised prices by Rs2,000 per metric ton to Rs122,200 effective March 15. This is the second time where the company announced a price hike during the month. The company had increased the price by a similar amount on March 2.
The stock erased early gains and ended flat at Rs397. It opened at Rs399 it touched an intra-day high of Rs400 and a low of Rs396 and recorded volumes of over 89,000 shares on BSE.
Dishman Pharmaceuticals announced that Dishman's Bavla Facilities are approved by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Government, Australia, for all Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) production.
Shares of Dishman Pharma gained by 1.5% to end at 219. The scrip opened at Rs220 it touched an intra-day high of Rs224 and a low of Rs215 and recorded volumes of over 61,000 shares on BSE.
Shares of Engineers India shot up by over 5% to end at Rs2330 after the company announced that the board of directors will meet on March 23, 2010 to consider the proposal for Issue of Bonus Shares by capitalizing Free Reserves of the Company.
Further the Company has inform that, the Board in the same meeting shall also consider, inter-alia, the proposal of splitting of shares of the Company.
Shares of MSK project advanced by 1.5% to end at Rs128 after ~15% of its equity changed hands in three blocks on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs128.8 it touched an intra-day high of Rs133.5 and a low of Rs126 and recorded volumes of over 6.8mn shares on BSE.