Markets coming alive

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive – Howard Thurman. The world seems to be on a gaining spree as far as equity markets are concerned. The Indian indices will continue their winning ways with added momentum today powered by the strong global cues. The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 52.9 in October slightly up from September, when it was 52.8. Consumer confidence in US climbed last month to a more than four-year high. Leaving behind Superstorm Sandy, Asian stocks are around a percent up. Ditto was the case with US indices following reports on US employment and manufacturing which beat estimates. US private-sector employers added 158,000 jobs in October, again above expectations. Weekly initial jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 363.000 last week. The rupee strengthened by 10 paise to close at 53.70 against the US dollar, which is up against most other global currencies. Oil for December delivery gained 85 cents to close at $87.09 a barrel. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has emerged as the world's largest bourse in terms of the number of trades in equity segment during September. Auto stocks were in action with Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, reporting robust growth in vehicle sales in October. Tata Motors showed a decline in sales. Different types of frauds may have caused Rs 6,600 crore loss to Indian economy in the last fiscal and banks were the most common victim in swindling cases, a report by Ernst & Young stated. William Gross, co-chief investment officer of America's biggest bond mutual fund, said recent US policies are not generating the kind of growth needed to kick-start the economy and may usher in "disruptive financial markets" in the future. Key Results Today: Wipro, MCX, Marico, Apollo Tyres, Berger Paints,3I Infotech, Crest Animation, Brigade Enterprises, EIH Associated, Elder Pharma, Greaves Cotton, Hotel Leela, ICRA, Gokaldas Exports, Rain Commodities, MT Educare, Mirc Electronics, Indoco Remedies, Jet Airways, REC, Schneider Electric, TV Today, Union Bank, Sobha Developers, Shree Renuka Sugars, Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs3.34bn in the cash segment on Thursday, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs1.53bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE. The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs.1.44bn in the cash segment on Thursday, according to the SEBI figures. Global Data Watch: ANZ Commodity Price (Oct) NZD, Producer Price Index (QoQ) (Q3) AUD, Producer Price Index (YoY) (Q3) AUD, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, Markit Manufacturing PMI (Oct) EUR, PMI Construction (Oct) GBP, Net Change in Employment (Oct) CAD, Unemployment Rate (Oct) CAD, Nonfarm Payrolls (Oct) USD, Average Hourly Earnings (YoY) (Oct) USD, Average Weekly Hours (Oct) USD, Unemployment Rate (Oct) USD, Average Hourly Earnings (MoM) (Oct) USD, ISM New York index (Oct) USD, Factory Orders (MoM) (Sep) USD, Fed's Tarullo speech USD, FOMC Member Williams speech USD In other news in the media: L&T Construction has won new orders valued at over Rs10.6bn across various business segments in October. SAIL expects to expand its production capacity to 18mn tons by the end of current financial year, as it plans to commission two new blast furnaces. (BL) In a reprieve to incumbent telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, BSNL and MTNL, the empowered group of ministers on telecom permitted them to retain up to 2.5 Mhz of spectrum in the 900-MHz band. The rest would have to be refarmed to the 1,800-MHz band. (BS) The Wipro board has approved the separation of the non-IT businesses from Wipro Ltd to form a new company, Wipro Enterprises Ltd. The new unlisted entity will include Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering and Medical Diagnostic Products & Services. (BS) SpiceJet is looking at raising funds from investors, including private equity firm Bravia Capital. (BS) The office of the CAG said it would have unfettered right of access to all records of Reliance Industries during its audit of operations in the Krishna-Godavari basin and would override any conditions sought to be imposed on the process. (BS) Hexaware is aggressively scouting for acquisitions in healthcare, insurance, banking and capital market sectors, which contribute over 75% of the company’s revenues. (ET) Spending by the Indian Government outpaced revenue receipts by Rs2.1tn in the first half of 2012-13. This was equivalent to 65.6% of the Budget estimates for the full fiscal. The revenue deficit, on the other hand, was R2.6tn, equivalent to 75.1% of the Budget estimate. (BL) The government, facing stiff opposition, has put on hold the ~Rs26.5 increase in price of cooking gas cylinders that consumers buy beyond their quota of six subsidised bottles. (ET) The Central government approved a hike of up to 20% in the support price of five rabi crops, including pulses and mustard seed, but left wheat untouched. (ET)