Market may open slightly lower

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates a fall of 13 points at the opening bell. Tata Motors reported a 20% jump in total vehicle sales at 1,00,414 units in March 2012 over March 2011. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) posted a 25% increase in sales at 47,001 units in March 2012 over March 2011. Airline stocks and shares of PSU OMCs will be in action as state-owned oil companies on Saturday hiked jet fuel price by about 3%, the third time they have increased rates in March month. The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in Delhi was hiked by Rs 1,850.96 per kilolitre (kl), or 2.8%, to Rs 67,800.30 per kl from 31 March 2012. Key benchmark indices surged on the last trading session of Q4 March 2012 and the year ended March 2012 (FY 2012) on Friday, 30 March 2012 after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said holders of participatory notes, or P-notes, will have no tax liability in India on the investments they make in the local equity market. The BSE Sensex jumped 345.59 points or 2.03% to settle at 17,404.20, its highest closing level since 21 March 2012. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 962.65 crore on Friday, 30 March 2012, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. India's October-December current account deficit nearly doubled to $19.6 billion from $10.1 billion a year earlier due to a sharp slowdown in merchandise and services exports even as imports grew at a rapid pace, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said Friday. The current account is made up of trade balance and other items such as software payments. The RBI said that the country's balance of payments "experienced a significant stress as trade deficit widened and capital inflows fell far short of financing requirement, resulting in significant drawdown of foreign exchange reserves.” The trade deficit in the October-December period widened to $47.7 billion from $31.4 billion a year earlier. India's capital and financial account during the October-December period was at a net surplus of $8.2 billion. The next major trigger for the market is Q4 March 2012 earnings. Investors will focus on the guidance provided by the management for the year ending March 2013 (FY 2013) to gauge the earnings outlook. IT bellwether Infosys announces Q4 March 2012 results on 13 April 2012. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that the government doesn't intend to levy any tax on the holders of Participatory Notes (P-Notes). He also said that a clarification on the matter would be issued by the Government in due course and that the Centre has no intention of harassing genuine overseas investors. A lack of clarity on taxation of P-notes has contributed to the recent volatility in the domestic share market. Participatory Notes or P-Notes are instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the Indian stock markets without registering themselves with the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Mukherjee on 16 March 2012, while presenting the Union Budget 2012-13, proposed to introduce the General Anti-Avoidance Rule, or GAAR, which would give the tax body the right to examine the motivation for transactions by foreign investors. Mr. Mukherjee said at the time that GAAR is aimed "to counter aggressive tax avoidance schemes." Under GAAR, a transaction would be presumed to be for obtaining tax benefit unless the taxpayer proves that obtaining benefit wasn't the main objective. India's tax treaty with Mauritius exempts capital gains from being doubly taxed, but GAAR could override such tax treaties. Asian stocks traded mostly higher Monday at the start of the new quarter. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong and Taiwan were down by between 0.33% to 0.67%. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea rose by between 0.16% to 0.79%. China's stock markets were shut for a holiday. Chinese manufacturing gauges for March offered a mixed snapshot of the nation's manufacturing activity. A Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to a one-year high of 53.1, exceeding economists' estimates, a report from the logistics federation and the statistics bureau showed today. While, a PMI from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics fell to a four-month low of 48.3. The Bank of Japan's closely watched quarterly "tankan" business survey, released Monday, disappointed in terms of sentiment among the nation's large manufacturers. The headline index, covering major manufacturing firms, remained unchanged from December's reading of –4. US stocks closed mixed on Friday but both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 Index logged their best quarterly gain in almost 14 years. On the economic front the Commerce Department released numbers that showed that consumer spending increased to its biggest gain in seven months, in addition the Michigan's survey showed that consumer sentiment rebounded to its highest level in more than a year.