Stocks head towards a positive start

Headlines for the day:

Piramal Healthcare closes Thane plant

Banks make loans more expensive

Suven to raise Rs90 crore for R&D



Events for the day:

Major corporate action

India's export & import data for August
Monthly auto sales and cement dispatches numbers to be out from today
Bedmutha Industries IPO closes today
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Updates on global events

The UK’s second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) came in at 1.7% as compared to 1.6% seen in the previous quarter.

The US continuing claims for the week ended September 18, 2010 stood at 4,457,000 as compared to 4,540,000 seen in the previous week.

The US initial claims for the week ended September 25, 2010 stood at 453,000 as compared to 469,000 seen in the previous week.

Pre-market report

Indian indices

The Indian markets have been quite this week. However, the Sensex and Nifty have gained 0.12% and 0.20% respectively in this week till now.

Today, on the first day of new month (October), the markets are expected to begin with a positive bias, tracking the firm Asian cues. However, overall the investors may remain cautious and focus on the upcoming data later through the day.

The data include HSBC Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index for September, monthly auto sales and cement dispatches numbers, which may provide some direction to the markets. This may keep the auto and cement stocks in focus.

There is a new listing on the bourses, Tirupati Inks. The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing of printing ink and trading in polyester films. Its issue price has been fixed at Rs43 per share, at higher end of price band of Rs41-43.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought Indian shares worth a net of Rs894.80 crore on September 29, 2010, as compared to Rs1,307.10 crore on September 28, 2010. The domestic investors have sold the Indian stocks worth a net of Rs567.90 crore on September 28, 2010 as compared to net sell of Rs611.30 crore on September 27, 2010.

Global signals

The European shares fell for the fourth straight session on Thursday, with investors locking in profits after the best quarterly gains in a year following strong economic data from the United States.

The Wall Street wrapped up its best quarter in a year on Thursday with the S&P and Nasdaq logging in the biggest monthly gains since April 2009, as data showed the economy isn't in such bad shape.

The Asian markets were trading higher, but their gains were modest following the overnight fall on the Wall Street. SGX Nifty was trading 19 points higher, indicating to have a positive start on the Indian indices.

Commodity cues

Crude oil rose to a seven-week high near $80 a barrel on Thursday after lower US jobless claims stoked optimism for economic recovery, as the crude oil futures for November delivery rose by $2.71, to settle at $79.97 a barrel.