A rally on cards on positive Asian stocks

The market may open firm on positive Asian stocks. Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could surge 74.50 points at the opening bell. Markit Economics will unveil HSBC India Manufacturing PMI, which gauges the business activity of India's factories, for December 2012 today, 2 January 2013. Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, 2 January 2013 as investors snapped up shares across sectors as the U.S. House of Representatives was set to vote on the Senate's approval for a bill on the fiscal cliff. Reliance Industries (RIL) on Tuesday, 1 January 2013, said it has bought back 4.62 crore shares for about of Rs 3358.91 crore till 24 December 2012 under its ongoing share buyback program. RIL has set maximum buyback price of Rs 870 per share. The company has set aside Rs 10440 crore for share buyback. The buyback program opened on 1 February 2012 and closes on 19 January 2013. Tata Motors' total sales (including exports) of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles in December 2012 were 65,582 vehicles. The company's domestic sales of Tata commercial and passenger vehicles for December 2012 were 61,700 units. The company's sales of commercial vehicles in December 2012 in the domestic market were 47,515 units. LCV sales were 37,649 units, while M&HCV sales stood at 9,866 units. Cumulative sales of commercial vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal were 390,370 units. Cumulative LCV sales were 281,192 units, while M&HCV sales stood at 109,178 units. Passenger vehicles sales dropped 50.94% to 14,185 units in December 2012 over December 2011. The company said newly introduced Manza Club Class and Safari Storme are growing well in their respective segments. Due to increasing demand, the Safari Storme has been released only in the NCR region, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Goa, and is being expanded in phases. Sales of the Nano/ Indica/ Indigo range were 11,257 units. The Sumo/ Safari/ Aria/ Venture range sales were 2,928 units. The company's sales from exports were 3,882 vehicles in December 2012. Cumulative sales from exports for the fiscal were 39,403 units. PSU OMCs will be in focus after the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas after trading hours on Tuesday, 1 January 2013, said that the under-recovery on High Speed Diesel (HSD) applicable for the first fortnight of January 2013, effective 1 January 2013, has decreased to Rs 9.03 per litre from Rs 9.28 per litre for the 2nd fortnight of December 2012. In case of Domestic LPG, the under-recovery for January 2013 remains unchanged at Rs 490.50 cylinder. The Under-recovery on PDS Kerosene, too, has remained at same level of Rs 30.64 per litre for January 2013, the ministry said. PSU OMCs are currently (effective 01 January 2013) incurring daily under-recovery of about Rs 389 crore on the sale of Diesel, PDS Kerosene and Domestic LPG. Key benchmark indices surged on the first trading session of calendar 2013 on Tuesday, 1 January 2013 after the US Senate approved an agreement early on Tuesday struck hours earlier by the White House and Senate Republicans to keep the world's biggest economy from falling off the fiscal cliff. The BSE Sensex jumped 154.10 points or 0.79% to settle at 19,580.81, its highest closing level since 25 April 2011. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 665.05 crore on Tuesday, 1 January 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Indian companies will start unveiling Q3 December 2012 results from mid-January 2013. Investors and analysts will closely watch the management commentary that would accompany the result which could cause revision in their future earnings forecast of the company for the current year and or next year. Infosys announces Q3 results on 11 January 2013. Axis Bank announces Q3 results on 15 January 2013. Bajaj Auto unveils Q3 results on 16 January 2013. HDFC Bank unveils Q3 results on 18 January 2013. HDFC unveils Q3 results on 21 January 2013. The government last week announced additional incentives to boost India's exports. The Planning Commission last week lowered its economic growth forecast for the country for the five years through 2017 to 8% from a previous estimate of 8.2%. Mr. Singh said that this is an "ambitious target," especially since it will follow growth of less than 6% in 2012. Markit Economics will unveil HSBC India Manufacturing PMI, which gauges the business activity of India's factories, for December 2012 today, 2 January 2013. The HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which gauges the business activity of India's factories but not its utilities, rose to 53.7 in November 2012 from 52.9 in October 2012. Readings above 50 denote growth. Markit Economics will unveil HSBC India Services PMI and HSBC India Composite PMI for December 2012 on Friday, 4 January 2013. The HSBC services Purchasing Managers' Index, based on a survey of around 400 companies, fell to 52.1 in November 2012 from October's 53.8, to register a 13-month low. Services make up nearly 60% of India's economic output. The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly consumer price index-industrial workers (CPI-IW) eased to 9.55% for November 2012, from 9.6% for October 2012, the Ministry of Labour & Employment said after trading hours on Monday, 31 December 2012. Among the components of CPI-IW, food inflation edged up to 10.85% in November 2012 from 9.91% in October 2012. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) undertakes Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2012-13 on 29 January 2013. RBI kept its key policy rate viz. the repo rate unchanged at 8% after mid-quarter monetary policy review on 18 December 2012. The central bank said that in view of inflation pressures ebbing, monetary policy has to increasingly shift focus and respond to the threats to growth from this point onwards. Liquidity conditions will be managed with a view to supporting growth as stated in the Second Quarter Review (SQR) of Monetary Policy 2012-13 on 30 October 2012, thereby preparing the ground for further shifting the policy stance to support growth, RBI said. Overall, recent inflation patterns and projections provide a basis for reinforcing October guidance about policy easing in the fourth quarter, RBI said. However, risks to inflation remain and accordingly, even as the policy emphasis shifts towards growth, the policy stance will remain sensitive to these risks, RBI said. RBI said it is closely monitoring the evolving growth-inflation dynamic and will update the formal numerical assessment of its growth and inflation projections for 2012-13 as part of the third quarter review in January 2013. It remains to be seen if the Union Budget for 2013-2014 due in February 2013 is a reformist budget or a populist budget. Given that next general elections in India must be held before May 2014, it will be the last full-fledged budget of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and hence could be a populist one. Asian stocks edged higher on Wednesday, 2 January 2013 as investors snapped up shares across sectors as the U.S. House of Representatives was set to vote on the Senate's approval for a bill on the fiscal cliff. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia were up by 0.43% to 1.7%. Mainland Chinese markets are closed for holiday. Japanese markets were also closed for holiday. China's official monthly manufacturing survey, released Tuesday, showed conditions in December unchanged from the month before, even as a privately compiled version of the survey showed improvement. The government-sponsored manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index sat unchanged at 50.6 in December, according to the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing. While the result was still above the 50 mark that divides expansion from contraction, the lack of improvement contrasted with HSBC's own China manufacturing PMI, out Monday, which jumped to 51.5 from November's 50.5. Chinese stock markets were closed Tuesday for the New Year's Day holiday. US stock markets were closed on Tuesday, 1 January 2013, for the New Year's Day holiday. The House of Representatives prepared to vote Tuesday night on a bipartisan deal to undo the fiscal cliff of austerity measures which began going into effect at the start of the year. The White House and Senate Republicans reached an agreement late Monday to avert the imminent fiscal cliff of wide-reaching tax hikes and deep spending cuts. The US Senate early on Tuesday morning overwhelmingly approved a fiscal-cliff agreement struck hours earlier by the White House and Senate Republicans. Senators missed a midnight deadline for action, and the House of Representatives won't reconvene until later Tuesday meaning that the US has technically gone over the cliff. The agreement would raise tax rates on household incomes of more than $450,000, extend unemployment benefits, and delay across-the-board spending cuts for two months but would let a 2% payroll-tax cut lapse and do nothing to address the US borrowing limit. Both sides trumpeted the deal even as each party suffered a few defections in the Senate vote. Eighty-nine senators voted for the bill and eight voted against, including Democrat Tom Harkin and Republican Rand Paul. In a statement after the vote, President Barack Obama said: "While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay". Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that while the bill was imperfect it avoided "the largest tax increase in American history". Action on the bill now moves to the House of Representatives, where Republican leaders are reserving the right to amend its language. "Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members -- and the American people -- have been able to review the legislation," said a statement from House Speaker John Boehner and other top Republicans. Earlier Monday, President Barack Obama said that the agreement would permanently set higher tax rates on upper incomes, extend unemployment insurance and prolong tax credits for clean-energy companies and families with children. In remarks at the White House, Obama acknowledged that hopes had faded for a bigger deal to reduce the US budget deficit, but he laid out a piecemeal strategy for deficit reduction. Monday's deal also delays the spending-cut side of the fiscal cliff for two months, until a new agreement can be reached. Under the budget sequester, automatic spending cuts of about $50 billion to military expenditures and another $50 billion to domestic spending would take place in 2013 alone. By excluding the US debt ceiling, the agreement sets Washington up for another intense round of bargaining. The US will reach its borrowing limit in late February or early March, and Congress would need to approve an increase. Republicans want spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit. Obama last month asked for permanent authority to increase the US borrowing limit, a move swiftly rejected by Republicans. Late Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner took action to put off hitting the $16.4 trillion legal borrowing authority. Geithner said he suspended investment in the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, one of a series of measures that the Treasury chief had previously indicated would help avoid reaching the limit until late February or early March. Without the actions, the government would have hit the debt limit Monday. Markit Economics will unveil final US Manufacturing PMI for December 2012 today, 2 January 2013. Data released by Markit Economics on 14 December 2012 showed that the Markit Flash US Manufacturing PMI had risen to eight-month high of 54.2 in December 2012.