Markets may weaken at start

Headlines for the day:

Govt pegs GST at 20% in year one, single rate at 16% by 2014

DLF plans to sell majority stake in DLF Brands

Adani Enterprises' QIP draws Rs4,000 crore



Events for the day:

Major corporate action

India’s weekly inflation to be announced today, to view the update on this, kindly log on to Sharekhan.com at 12 pm
Bajaj Auto board to consider bonus issue today
Results: IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bajaj Auto

Updates on global events

The DOE US Crude Oil Inventories for the month ended June 16, 2010 stood at 360,000

The DOE US Gasoline Inventories for the month ended June 16, 2010 stood at 1118,000

Pre-market report

Global signals

The European shares made significant gains for the first time in more than a week on Wednesday (July 21, 2010), with banks rising after strong results from US financials and on optimism that stress tests will boost the sector's outlook.

The Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's dour assessment of the US recovery hit US stocks on Wednesday, as his comment that the economy faced unusually uncertain prospects rattled investors.

The Asian markets were trading red, except Shanghai and Strait Times with marginal gains, against the background of ambiguous statements by Mr Bernanke and overall negative US markets. SGX Nifty was trading 15 points lower, suggesting to a soft start on the Indian bourses.

Indian Indices

The world markets were spooked by Mr Bernanke's downbeat assessment of the US economic outlook, which impacted the market sentiments across the globe, following the weak US and Asian markets, the Indian indices are set to have a negative start. However, market players are expected to remain cautious.

The weekly inflation numbers are to be announced today, however, the inflation numbers, were higher than expectations in last few weeks, so its outcome may reinforce Reserve Bank India for interest rate hike.

ACC, Bajaj Holdings, Shriram Transport, IDBI Bank, Power Finance Corporation, ITC, Ambuja Cements, Punjab National Bank, Dr.Reddy's Laboratories, Idea Cellular, Bajaj Auto, Wipro will declare their results today; the stocks will be closely eyed.

Commodity cues

The oil prices dipped on Wednesday after the two previous sessions of gain, as crude oil futures for August delivery declined $1.02, to settle at $76.56 a barrel.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) fund have been pumping into the Indian markets, which has overall lifted the momentum, the FIIs buying has crossed $200 in July, which shows a sign of strong economic growth for the Indian markets. The FIIs remained net buyers in equities worth Rs372.40 crore on July 21, 2010.