Just Shuffling around!

If power was an illusion, wasn't weakness necessarily one also? - Lois Bujold.

Market participants seem to be anxious to re-shuffle their portfolio in somewhat the same way the Prime Minister has re-organised his Cabinet. The much-hyped Cabinet rejig turned out to be an anti-climax. The PM has promised another such exercise after the Budget session but generally there is a feeling of discontent as far as the performance of UPA II is concerned. It remains to be seen how the new-look Cabinet fares over the next few months. The Budget session as well as couple of state elections will be the litmus test for Manmohan Singh & Co.



The start today is likely to be lower again. Global cues are not supportive to begin with. After two successive days of gains the momentum lost some of the steam on Wednesday, increasing near-term uncertainty and calling into question the sustainability of any short-term spurts. Volumes have not been great either, which reinforces the fact that buyers are lacking in conviction.

Overall, the market sentiment remains a bit shaky and there are still chances of it cracking further. Technical traders of course are watching whether the key indices hold on to the crucial 200-DMA support levels.

US stocks declined overnight following disappointing earnings reports from American Express and Goldman Sachs. Also, a report on US housing starts failed to impress Wall Street. Whether this was a one-off dip or start of a pullback from recent 28-month highs only time will tell.

The dollar dropped to a two-month low against the euro on Wednesday as rising confidence in the global economic recovery bolstered risk appetite globally. Also, global investors are growing more comfortable with Europe’s debt situation.

China has released a spate of important economic data, including Q4 and 2010 GDP numbers. The readings are positive overall.

European indices closed lower overnight and Asian markets too are down this morning.

Results Today: Biocon, Indoco Remedies, Info Edge, JSW Energy, Kirloskar Brothers, Kotak Mahindra Bank, KPIT Cummins, Persistent Systems, SRF, TVS Motor, Wipro, Yes Bank and Zee News.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 2.7bn in the cash segment on Wednesday, according to the provisional NSE data. The domestic institutional institutions were net buyers at Rs 4.88bn. FIIs were net buyers of Rs 9.25bn in the F&O segment.

The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs 1.76bn in the cash segment on Tuesday, according to the SEBI web site. Mutual funds were net sellers of Rs 15mn on the same day.

Shares of C. Mahendra Exports will get listed today.

Nirma delisting offer closes today. The company has already received bids for 19mn shares till the end of Wednesday.