Profit booking may emerge after five-day rally

The market may open on a subdued note amid mixed Asian stocks. Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a fall of 10 points at the opening bell. Easing inflation worries following a fall in crude oil prices and resumption of buying by foreign funds triggered a 6.18% surge on the domestic bourses in the preceding five trading days. The near term major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2011 results. The Q4 results will start trickling in from about mid-April 2011.



As per provisional figures, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 890.01 crore and domestic funds sold shares worth Rs 286.52 crore on Monday, 28 March 2011. India-dedicated funds witnessed outflow of $193 million in the week to 23 March 2011, as per the latest data from global fund tractor EPFR Global.

Oil and gas stocks may be in action after the ninth round of oil and gas block auctions closed on Monday. Reportedly, for the 34 exploration blocks offered, 37 companies bid under the Ninth Round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX). The Government received 74 bids for 33 blocks. One offshore block did not receive any bid. ONGC emerged the front-runner in 10 of the 26 blocks it bid. Reliance Industries (RIL) was the provisional winner in two of the six blocks it bid for. Cairn India, which had bid for two blocks, bagged none.

US crude futures were down 62 cents a barrel or 0.60% to $103.36 a barrel after Libyan rebels advanced against Muammar Qaddafi's troops, raising speculation the conflict may be resolved soon.

Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 amid concerns arising from muted earnings in Japan as the nation struggled to contain a meltdown at a nuclear plant. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, China and Hong Kong fell by between 0.17% to 1.47%. The key benchmark indices in South Korea and Taiwan were up 0.13% and 0.19%, respectively.

US stocks edged lower on Monday, 28 March 2011, after a late tumble undercut advances from earlier in the day, and as investors cautiously retreated ahead of key data reports later this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 22.71 points, or 0.2%, at 12197.88. The Nasdaq Composite fell 12.38, or 0.5%, to 2730.68 and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 3.61, or 0.3%, to 1310.19.

In economic news, the National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in February 2011, increased 2.1% to 90.8. The index had declined 2.8% in January 2011.

Billionaire investor and international investment icon Warren Buffett who was in his maiden visit to India last week said that he hopes to spend some money in India. His firm Berkshire Hathaway is looking to park funds in large investment destinations and India fits the bill perfectly, he said. India, according to him, is not an emerging market but a very big country with a large number of significant businesses. He said that Berkshire Hathaway would look at possible acquisitions in India as and when there were opportunities.