Flat opening on the cards

Headlines for the day:

Tata Motors plans to raise Rs4,700 crore

Infrastructure growth slows to 5% in May

NTPC rejects pooling of gas prices for power, fertiliser sector



Events for the day:

Major corporate action

Ex-date for stock split of Genesys Intl, Chartered Logistics
Ex-date for bonus issue of Kansai Nerolac
Ex-date for dividend Uco Bank
For more events, log on to Sharekhan.com

Pre-market report

Global signals

The European shares snapped four sessions of losses to close higher on Monday, buoyed by bank shares and upbeat US consumer spending data, but they failed to climb beyond a key technical level.

The US stocks ended slightly lower on Monday as gains in consumer-related stocks, including tobacco shares, were offset by losses in the energy sector.

The Asian markets edged up in the early trades on Tuesday as investors stayed on the sidelines, awaiting a raft of key indicators including Japan's business confidence survey and US jobs data later in the week. SGX Nifty was trading mere 1.5 points higher.

Indian Indices

Due to lack of triggers back home, the Indian indices may be dependant on the global frontiers for direction. The indices are expected to remain rangebound owing to unsupportive global cues. Following the path led by its Asian peers, the Indian markets are likely to open flat. The markets may be directionless but foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which turned net buyers in the month of June and continued program buying may help to prevent significant correction.

State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, has signalled that it may fix the base rate for lending at 8% or less, which may prompt some private banks to offer lower rates to ensure corporate borrowers remain loyal. This may bring the banking stocks in limelight.

There are new listing on the bourses — Samruddhi Cement and Kriti Nutrients.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, the crude oil prices slipped on Monday, falling from a seven-week high settlement price during the previous session, as concerns about the tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico began to ease, with the Nymex light crude oil for the August series declined by $0.61 per barrel. In the metals space, the Comex Gold for the July series dipped by $17.60 to a troy ounce and the Comex Silver for the June series was down by $0.43 to a troy ounce.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On June 28, 2010, the FIIs were the net sellers of the Indian stocks to the tune of Rs284.10 crore, whereas the domestic mutual, on June 24, 2010, were the net sellers of the stocks to the tune of Rs282.70 crore.