Turning hesitant

"The serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and the purity of mind are called the austerity of thought." - Bhagavad Gita.

After a lot of wrangling, Greek political parties have reached a deal on new austerity measures necessary to secure international aid and avert a default. But, the Greek parliament needs to ratify the economic reforms. The news was confirmed by ECB President Mario Draghi, who left interest rates unchanged. Investors will continue to keep close tabs on events out of the euro area (Greece in particular).

The Bank of England kept rates steady but expanded the size of its QE program. The US labour market conditions continue to improve ever so slightly.



The opening today will be lower as Asian markets are mostly in the red. US stocks closed with slender gains as did their European counterparts.

December IIP print is seen between 2.5% to 3.5%. This is slower than November’s reading of 5.9%. However, the markets may not get swayed much as the IIP data generally has been quite erratic.

Globally, equities have got off to a strong start in 2012. So, don’t be surprised if market players turn a little hesitant in pushing stocks much higher.

Indian market resumed its ascent on Thursday after the initial jerk in opening trade. The Nifty closed above 5400. There could be further rise in the Nifty towards 5500 in the coming days, provided the FII inflows remain positive and global markets are supportive.

Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs 12bn in the cash segment on Thursday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers at Rs 10.37bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.

The FIIs were net sellers of Rs 973.6mn in the F&O segment on Thursday, according to the provisional NSE data.

The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs 4.5bn in the cash segment on Wednesday, as per final SEBI data. Mutual Funds were net buyers at Rs 300mn on the same day.

Major Results Today: Apollo Hospitals, Aurobindo Pharma, BPCL, Britannia, DLF, Eros, Gammon Infra, GE Shipping, Hathway, Hotel Leela, IDFC, JSW Steel, Lovable Lingerie, MMTC, MTNL, Neyveli Lignite, Pantaloon, Pipavav Defence, Reliance Capital, RCOM, Shriram Transport, Sun TV, Tata Chemicals and Tata Power.

Global Data Watch: China's trade balance, UK PPI, Germany's CPI, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech, US trade balance and US consumer sentiment