Profit booking expected in later half

After a steady rally in the past few sessions, profit booking is expected in later half of the day’s trading session.

Asian shares shrugged off US market gains on deal news and were mostly lower today, as worse-than-forecast industrial output data weighed on Japan. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.49% or 99.92 points at 20,369.67 while the Japanese Nikkei 225 index declined 0.23% or 41 points at 17,631.56.

Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.55% or 44.70 points at 8,136.79), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.73% or 25.90 points at 3,501.18) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 0.71% or 11.88 points at 1,649.92) also slipped lower.

Wall Street eked out a modest gain yesterday as investors, wary about the upcoming release of the Federal Reserve minutes, bought cautiously amid a series of new takeover deals and upbeat consumer confidence figures. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 14.06 points, or 0.10%, to 13,521.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 2.38 points, or 0.16%, to 1,518.11, while the Nasdaq composite index advanced 14.87 points, or 0.58%, to 2,572.06.

As per reports, the marketwide rollover stands at 48%, while Nifty rollover was 43%, ahead of the derivative expiry for May 2007 series scheduled on Thursday, 31 May 2007. Volatility is expected to remain high ahead of it.

Oil prices held at $68 a barrel on Wednesday in London ahead of U.S. inventory data expected to show rising crude and fuel stocks. London Brent crude traded up 14 cents at $68.27 a barrel, after tumbling $1.58 on Tuesday on U.S. refinery restarts and easing concerns over Nigerian shipments. U.S. crude was up 10 cents at $63.25, after a $2.05 plunge on Tuesday.