Markets set for a flat opening

Headlines for the day:

April-August Indirect tax kitty swells 46%

R-Power, Adani, GMR to bid for $1 billion mine

TCS to invest Rs1,000 crore in Kerala training campus



Events for the day:

Major corporate action

Indian Inc's advance tax nos to flow from today
Indosolar IPO closes today
Global Capital Markets board to consider stock split
For more events and news, log on to Sharekhan.com

Updates on global events:

The US Advance Retail Sales for the month ended August 2010 rose by 0.4% as compared to rise of 0.3% seen in the previous month.

Pre-market report

Indian indices

The Indian markets have been outperforming its global peers, with the markets attaining new highs in the past few trading sessions. The strong growth in the economy has buoyed investor sentiment. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are increasing their investments in the Indian markets and have been supporting the markets to trade higher.

Going in to today’s trade, the global picture does not seem to be much appetising. The Indian markets are likely to witness a flat start, tracking global markets. With the domestic indices hitting new highs in the past few days, the investors are expected to take a cautious stand.

The eagerly awaited Q2 advance tax numbers of India Inc’s will flow from today.

The market participants will keep a close eye on the Reserve Bank of India’s September 16, 2010 mid-term monetary review.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

India story still appears attractive, as the FIIs have maintained their bullish stance. The FIIs bought shares worth a net of Rs2,636.4 crore on September 14, 2010 as compared to net buy of Rs1,176.60 crore on September 13, 2010. The domestic investors have sold the Indian stocks worth a net of Rs434.90 crore on September 13, 2010.

Global signals

The European shares ended flat on Tuesday (September 14, 2010), with outsource firm Capita higher after investors were reassured about public sector contracts, while Dutch Group Philips fell as it gave cautious targets.

The US stocks were little changed on Tuesday after promising data from the retail sector fed recent optimism that the economic recovery, while slow, is proceeding.

The Asian markets were trading higher except Shanghai Composite. SGX Nifty was trading 7.5 points up, indicating to have a flat start on the Indian indices.

Commodity cues

Crude-oil futures ended a roller-coaster session lower on Tuesday, as prices hit some resistance above $78 a barrel. It had gained earlier after business inventories data painted a brighter picture of the economy. Crude for October delivery lost 39 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $76.80 a barrel.