Don’t Hurry, Be Happy

An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth. - Bonnie Friedman.

The market is running nowhere as yet. Most Asian markets are up this morning; which means the Indian market will also see a higher start. Stay away from "risky" Small-Caps and Mid-Cap stocks and from sectors facing severe headwinds. Watch out for the latest IIP data to be released on Friday. The upswing may continue with 5900 acting as near term support. Overall, the trading range on the Nifty is expected to be 5800-6200. But don’t be in a hurry to make your purchases.



US stocks managed to emerge unscathed on Friday despite a weaker-than-expected jobs data. The dollar slid post the dismal non-farm payrolls report. But the buck has rebounded from a three-week low against the yen after Ben S. Bernanke said the US Federal Reserve may commit more money in QE2 beyond the $600bn announced last month. He also said a return to a recession "doesn’t seem likely."

The euro held on to its gains on speculation that the ECB was aggressively buying debt of the troubled peripheral eurozone nations. However, the region’s sovereign-debt problems are not over yet and may continue to weigh on the sentiment. Meanwhile, crude oil has climbed to a fresh two-year high and is hovering around $90 per barrel.

This week is a bit light in terms of global economic data though central banks in the UK, Australia, Canada and South Korea are scheduled to take up their policy reviews. China is scheduled to come out with its latest trade data later this week.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 6.03bn in the cash segment on Friday while the domestic institutional institutions were net sellers of Rs 6.89bn, according to the NSE Web site. FIIs were net buyers at Rs 5.68bn in the F&O segment on Friday.

Shares of RPP Infra Projects Ltd. will be listed today.

Asian Markets on Monday:

Most Asian stock benchmarks were trading higher in early morning trade on Monday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that the central bank may buy more treasuries to boost growth. Material shares gained on higher commodity prices.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 1% at 133.44 in Tokyo. The index earlier fell as low as 132.12. About twice the number of stocks rose as fell.

The Asia Pacific gauge fell 0.6% last month, the first decline in three months, amid concern that China will intensify efforts to curb inflation, speculation Europe will fail to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis from spreading and as tensions in the Korean peninsula escalated.

The Nikkei in Tokyo was down 0.3% at 10,147 while the S&P/ASX 200 index in Sydney was just in the red at 4,692. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was up 1% at 23,562. The Shanghai SE Composite index in China was up 0.6% at 2,860.

South Korea’s Kospi Index was down ~0.2% at 1,953. The Taiex in Taiwan advanced ~0.9% at 8,703 while the Straits Times index in Singapore rose 0.8% at 3,198.

The dollar tumbled on Dec. 3 after US Labor Department figures showed that payrolls increased by 39,000 last month, less than the most pessimistic projection of economists. Unemployment held near a 26-year high.

Mitsui & Co. rose in Tokyo after oil and metal prices gained.

Crude oil rose to its highest in 26 months in New York. The January delivery contract added as much as 41 cents to $89.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Oct. 7, 2008, and was at $89.54 at 10:17 a.m. Sydney time.

Oil has climbed 12.9% this year. Copper climbed for a fifth day, set for its longest rally since July.

Shares of Riversdale Mining Ltd. surged percent after the company said that Rio Tinto Group made a takeover proposal.

Riversdale Mining, which is developing coal mines in Africa, said that Rio made an initial A$3.5 billion ($3.47 billion) takeover proposal. Rio offered A$15 for each of its shares, Sydney-based Riversdale said today in a statement.

Riversdale Mining surged 12% to A$15.82, posting the biggest increase on the Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index.

US Markets on Friday:

US stocks rose marginally on Friday to end the week up as Wall Street overlooked a weaker-than-expected monthly jobs report. Investors focused on what favorable policy decisions might be triggered by the disappointing unemployment numbers.

After two days of triple-digit gains the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19.68 points, or 0.2%, to 11,382.09. The blue chip index rose 2.6% last week. Of its 30 components, 17 finished higher.

The S&P 500 index gained 3.18 points, or 0.3%, to 1,224.71, with natural resources up the most among its 10 sectors. The broader market barometer was up 3% last week.

The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.11 points, or 0.5%, to 2,591.46, with the technology-laden index gaining 2.2% on the week.

The major US indexes ended higher for the week, with the Nasdaq nearing a three-year high, thanks largely to rallies on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, the indexes meandered mostly lower most of the session before turning higher late in the day.

Earlier in the day, stocks were lower as markets responded to the surprisingly weak jobs report. But, the negative reaction was muted.

The market is looking beyond the current employment conditions and is looking forward to prospects of improvement.

The weakness in the labor market does justify the Fed's decision to keep buying more securities and keep interest rates low, and it gives Congress ammunitions to extend the Bush tax cuts.

The market's reaction confirms underlying strength in the stock market.

For every two stocks that fell, more than three rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume topped 908 million.

The dollar fell against the euro, the Japanese yen and the British pound.

Oil for January delivery rose $1.19 to settle at $88.19 a barrel, the highest since October 2008.

Gold futures for February delivery rose $16.90, or 1.2%, to finish at a record $1,406.20 an ounce.

The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury was unchanged and the yield held steady at 3%.

Investors bought stocks and other risky assets last week following a batch of mostly positive economic indicators. US stocks staged a big rally Thursday, as investors cheered strong retail sales figures and a pledge of support from the European Central Bank.

Thursday's gains came on top of Wednesday's powerful rebound, which pushed the Dow near its highs for the year and lifted the S&P 500 above the key technical level of 1,200 points.

The US economy added 39,000 jobs in November - the lowest number since September, the Labor Department said. The total fell far short of expectations. Economists had forecast a gain in payrolls of 150,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8% after holding at 9.6% for several months.

US stocks strengthened after a television network quoted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke as saying that he doesn’t rule out expanding the Fed’s $600 billion bond-purchase program.

Separately, a gauge of the services industry showed a slight expansion in November and the government reported a 0.9% decline in factory orders for October. The numbers followed a 3% gain in September. Economists were expecting orders to fall 1.3%.

China said it will move to a more "prudent" monetary policy stance next year, the nation's Political Bureau said. The announcement was made Thursday morning by a local government news agency.

The report stated that the move away from a "relatively loose" policy, put in place during the global recession in 2009, is aimed at curbing rising prices in China.

The People's Bank of China hiked its benchmark interest rate in October, and raised the reserve requirement ratio for banks twice within one month.

President Barack Obama's fiscal commission convened to cast a final vote on the controversial plan to slash $4 trillion in federal debt. While the plan drew bipartisan support - with 11 of 18 members voting yes - the result still fell short of the 14 votes needed, in order for the commission to present its recommendations to Congress for a legislative vote.

Walter Energy will buy Western Coal for $3.3 billion. Walter Energy will pay $11.50 per share for the Canadian coal company, creating one of the world's largest publicly-traded producers of steel-making coal. Shares were up 4.7%.

Shares of Ford edged up 0.1%, after the automaker reported a 20% increase in November sales on Thursday.

European Markets on Friday:

European stock indices finished mostly lower on Friday, breaking a two-session winning streak, after a weaker-than-anticipated US employment data rekindled worries about the health of the global economy.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.3% to end at 270.94. However, the index finished the week with a gain of 1.6%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.4% to 5,745.32 and the German DAX 30 index slipped 0.1% to 6,947.72. In France, the CAC 40 index edged up 0.1% to 3,750.55.

In France, shares of STMicroelectronics rallied 7.1%, bucking the negative trend and boosting the nation’s benchmark index. The semiconductor firm was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Exane BNP Paribas.

European equities pared their intraday losses as the close of trading approached, with investors mulling the significance of the jobs data. The US Labor Department said that nonfarm payrolls rose by 39,000 in November, while economists had expected a 155,000 increase.

Also, the unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in November from 9.6% in October, a separate survey of 60,000 households showed.

French retailer Carrefour SA fell 2.1% after it was downgraded to hold from buy at ING.

Equities in Spain, Portugal and Italy gained amid reports that the European Central Bank was once again buying peripheral euro-zone bonds, easing concerns temporarily over the spread of the region’s debt crisis.

Spain’s IBEX 35 index gained 0.7%, as shares of Banco Santander rose 1.4%.

Portugal’s PSI 20 index rose 0.7% and Italy’s FTSE MIB gained 0.3%.

Shares of banking giant UniCredit SpA advanced 2.6% in Milan.

On the downside, Ireland’s ISEQ index retreated 0.4%.