Market may open lower; Bajaj Auto Q3 result eyed

The market may open lower if trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange is of any indication. It indicate a fall of 9.50 points at the opening bell. Bajaj Auto is due to report earnings today, 19 January 2011

As per provisional figures on NSE, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 72.54 crore and domestic funds sold shares Rs 26.20 crore on Tuesday, 18 January 2011.



Asian stocks rose on Wednesday,19 January 2011 taking a cue from Wall Street gains and on hopes for more robust U.S. earnings. The key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan rose by between 0.03% to 0.68%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite fell 0.15%.

U.S. stocks shook off concerns on Tuesday, 18 January 2011 surrounding Apple Inc, which was hit by news of Chief Executive Steve Jobs' medical leave, helped by strong earnings for the iPhone and iPad maker whose share rose more than 4 percent in extended trade.Optimism about earnings has helped bolster U.S. stocks in recent weeks, fuelling hopes that the world's No.1 economy could return to a sustainable recovery path and that Japanese firms would follow suit and show a recovery in earnings.

Back home, the initial Q3 earnings have been a mixed bag. After disappointing Q3 results from IT bellwether Infosys, which also gave a muted guidance for Q4 March 2011, IT giant TCS reported stronger-than-expected results. Housing finance major HDFC came out with decent Q3 results, which also showed asset quality remain strong. Engineering & construction major L&T expects revenue growth to remain strong over the medium term on a healthy order book. The company also said while it is facing a substantial increase in the cost of raw materials such as steel and copper, margins are expected to remain healthy. Private sector bank Axis Bank has reported strong Q3 results, with asset quality remaining healthy. TCS announced better than forecast Q3 result after market hours on Monday, 17 January 2011.

The high food prices have raised fears of aggressive hike in policy rates by the central bank in 2011. As per a poll by Capital Market, economists widely expect 25 basis points increase each in repo rate and reverse repo rate at 25 January 2010 policy review. Reserve Bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao said on Monday, 17 January 2011, that the country is facing surging inflation and that the RBI needs to calibrate monetary policy in order to manage inflation and also support growth.

The wholesale price index (WPI) rose an annual 8.43% in December 2010 on higher food prices, government data showed on Friday, 14 January 2011. The annual reading for October 2010 was revised upwards to 9.12% from 8.58%. Rising food and commodity prices are major challenges facing the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday. Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said on Monday, 17 January 2011, inflation is expected to ease to around 6.5% by end-March 2011.