Market may edge higher on firm Asian stocks; food inflation data eyed

The market may edge higher tracking firm Asian stocks. Bargain hunting may emerge after the recent slide in the indices. Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a gain of 10 points at the opening bell. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 370.79 crore and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 179.41 crore on Wednesday, 25 May 2011 as per provisional figures released by the stock exchanges.

Volatility may heighten as traders roll over positions in the derivatives segment from the near-month May 2011 series to June 2011 series, ahead of the expiry of the May 2011 derivatives contracts today, 26 May 2011.



On the macro front, the government will today, 26 May 2011, unveil data on some wholesale price indices viz. the food price index, the primary articles index and the fuel price index for the year through 14 May 2011.

Among prominent results, Tata Motors announces its Q4 results today, 26 May 2011.

Tata Steel after market hours on Wednesday announced that consolidated net profit stood at Rs 8982.69 crore in the year ended March 2011 compared to a net loss of Rs 2099.22 crore in the year ended March 2010. The company's total income rose 15.59% to Rs 119734.10 crore in the year ended March 2011 over the year ended March 2010.

Cairn India announced after market hours on Wednesday that consolidated net profit surged 902.4% to Rs 2457.79 crore on 372.99% rise in total income to Rs 3692.83 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010.

Rahul Dhir, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Cairn India said, "Cairn India's continued focus on safe and efficient operations has helped us to quickly ramp up the Mangala production to 125,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and deliver almost 40 million barrels of crude oil to Indian refineries. The successful delivery of the large scale Rajasthan project, the continued focus on life cycle planning and low cost operations in Rajasthan, Ravva and CB/OS-2 along with the application of innovative technologies has created a strong foundation for our future growth. We are therefore, well placed for the exploration drilling campaign in the frontier Mannar Basin in Sri Lanka later this year".

The government has reportedly decided to supply gas at regulated rates only to a few top-priority consumers - a move that will grant Reliance Industries substantial pricing freedom and boost the government's share of revenue from the KG-D6 field when output rises. The new system is being worked out by the government in response to the steep fall in output from Reliance Industries KG-D6 gas field. The shortfall has prompted the oil ministry to order Reliance to cut supplies to "non-core" sectors such as steel to help power and fertiliser plants get normal supply, report said.

The Q4 March 2011 results announced so far have been a mixed bag. The combined net profit of a total of 2523 companies rose 15.9% to Rs 76022 crore on 23.1% rise in sales to Rs 787224 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday, led by commodity and consumer related sectors. The key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan rose by between 0.3% to 1.29%. Singapore's Straits Times fell 0.04%.

U.S. stocks ended a three-day losing streak on Wednesday as recent underperformers led a thinly traded rally that wasn't seen as strong enough to overcome worries about waning global demand.