Markets set to open on a positive note taking global cues

Indian markets looked set to open higher today as US markets surged on Friday, 5 October 2007 boosted by a solid US jobs report. Asian markets opened on a positive note today. Volatility may persist as investors may look to book profits ahead of the result season starting this Thursday. Current bleak political situation would further affect the sentiments.

Q2 September 2007 results are the next major trigger for the market. Figures of advance tax suggest that earnings will be decent to strong. IT bellwether Infosys Technologies kickstarts reporting season on Thursday, 11 October 2007.

Political situation turned bleak again as Congress president Sonia Gandhi went about signaling her party’s preparedness to face elections and hit out at the Left for opposing the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal on Sunday 7 October 2007. Left will decide the fate of the government at the end of this month.

Two leading Indian industry lobby groups urged the central bank on Saturday to reduce interest rates to sustain 9% percent economic growth. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said that high interest rates were affecting investments.

Annual inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), moved up 3.42% in the week ended 22 September 2007 from 3.23% in the week ended 15 September 2007. The market estimate was 3.22%. Annual inflation stood at 5.43% in the corresponding week last year.

Asian markets, which opened before the Indian markets, were trading on a positive note today. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (up 1.27% to 9,739.36), Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (up 1.93% to 28,377.04), Singapore’s Straits Times (up 1.27% to 3,871.14) were trading up. Japan's Nikkei (down 0.16% at 17,065.04) edged lower.

American markets galloped on Friday,5 October 2007. The Dow gained 95.36 points, or 0.68 %, on the day, closing at 14,069.67. The S&P 500 had a record session on Friday, posting new closing and intraday high records. rose 14.17 points, or 0.92 %, on the day to close at 1,557.01. US markets surged as non-farm payrolls report released on Friday 5, October 2007 showed US employers added 1,10,000 jobs in September 2007 and August 2007 job losses were revised to a gain, helping lift worries about a US recession in the near term.

As per provisional NSE data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 948.06 crore of equities, while domestic institutional investors (DII) were net sellers of Rs 201.61 crore of equities on Friday, 5 October 2007.

The BSE 30-share Sensex ended down 3.78 points, or 0.02%, to 17,773.36 on Friday, 5 October 2007. The S&P CNX Nifty closed down 22.8 points, or 0.44%, to 5,185.85.

The market had snapped its 10 days’ winning streak since Thursday, 4 October 2007. The market had been on a roll with the Sensex hitting a record high in trading sessions from 19 September 2007 to 3 October 2007. Heavy FII buying and hopes of a further cut in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve at its next policy meeting on 30-31 October 2007 had boosted the bourses. From a low of 13,989.11 on 21 August 2007, the Sensex has galloped a whopping 3,857.93 points, or 27.57%, to 17,847.04 on Wednesday, 3 October 2007.