Stocks set to start on a flat-to-positive note

Headlines for the day:

Aditya Birla Group revs up power plans

Mahindra & Mahindra may buy strategic stake in Reva

R-Infra to roll out 11 projects this year

Events for the day:

Major corporate action

Ex-date for dividend of Infosys and Indian Overseas Bank
Results: Indian Hotels, Godrej Industries, Bharat Heavy Electricals
For more events, log on to Sharekhan.com

Pre-market report

Global signals

The European shares fell to their lowest close in nearly nine months on Tuesday, with banks hit as interbank lending rates rose and worries persisted that austerity measures to be taken in European economies will hurt growth.

The US stocks staged a furious late-day rally on Tuesday to push the S&P 500 into the positive territory as the focus shifted from European debt woes to buying after shares hit six-month lows.

In today's trade, the Asian markets were trading on a positive note, except Kospi index that underperformed slightly amid ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. At the time of writing this report, SGX Nifty was trading 34 points higher.

Indian Indices

It was a tough session yesterday on the Dalal Street with weak global cues weighing heavily on the markets. News of Spain's central bank taking control of a beleaguered small savings outfit served as a reminder of the financial uncertainty in Europe. Also, rising geopolitical tensions between North and South Korea added to the negative sentiment.

The US indices pared most of their earlier losses yesterday as the investors were expecting that the market may find support near current levels. But it is difficult to determine and judge the current situation across the globe.

The Asian markets rebound in their opening session, after a late-session reversal of losses on Wall Street helped confidence. Being in line with the Asian peers, the Indian markets are set to have a flat-to-positive start.

As we have witnessed volatility and heavy volumes in trade in the past two days, the same is expected to continue in today's session ahead of the F&O expiry.

The earnings of Indian Hotels Company, Godrej Industries, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Everest Kanto Cylinder, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, REI Agro, Mphasis, Tata Iron and Steel Company and Bharat Heavy Electricals are later to be announced today - the stocks will be closely eyed.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, the crude oil prices slipped, with the Nymex light crude oil for the June series down by $1.46 per barrel, whereas in the metals space, the Comex Gold for the June series rose by $4 and the Comex Silver for the June series was down by $0.22 to a troy ounce respectively.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On May 25, 2010, the FIIs were the net sellers of the Indian stocks to the tune of Rs881.80 crore, whereas the domestic mutual funds, on May 21, 2010, were the net buyers of the stocks to the tune of Rs287.60 crore.