Market may open flat to slightly higher

Trading of S&P CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 6 points at the opening bell. United Spirits will be in focus as the mandatory open offer by Diageo plc to acquire up to 3.77 crore equity shares of United Spirits (USL) constituting 26% the enlarged share capital of USL at Rs 1,440 per share has been delayed. The open offer has been delayed pending final observations from stock market regulator Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi). The open offer was originally slated to commence on 7 January 2013. The company is yet to announce the revised schedule of the open offer. The open offer is a part of the deal inked by Diageo plc and the UB group in November 2012 whereby Diageo plc will acquire 53.4% of the enlarged USL share capital at an aggregate cost of Rs 11166.50 crore (approximately £1,285 million) in two stages. The acquisition cost represents a 20x multiple of USL's EBITDA for the year ended 31 March 2012. Bank stocks will be in focus after the representatives of banking and financial institutions in a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Mr. P.Chidambaram on Monday, 7 January 2013, sought extension of Agriculture Interest Subvention Scheme to Self Help Groups and raising the threshold of interest amount for the purpose of TDS on interest income of depositors from Rs 10,000 per annum to Rs 25,000 on fixed term deposits with banks and allowing banks to issue tax free infrastructure bonds. State-run Bank of Maharashtra after trading hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, said that its board of directors will meet on 10 January 2013 to consider a proposal to raise additional equity share capital up to Rs 200 crore (face value) as follow-on public offer (FPO) and/or on right issue and/or by way of placement of equity shares through qualified institutional placement (QIP) in FY 2013-14. BPCL will be in focus after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday, 7 January 2013, laid the foundation stone for BPCL's refinery expansion project at Kochi in Kerala. On the completion of this project, the refining capacity at BPCL's Kochi refinery will increase from 9.5 to 15.5 million metric ton per annum. The project also involves the modernization of BPCL's Kochi refinery and will make it capable of producing auto-fuels compliant with Bharat Stage 4 and 5 specifications. PSU OMCs will in be in focus after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday, 7 January 2013, said the Indian oil industry has undertaken the massive task of upgrading the quality of auto fuels in the country with an investment of over Rs 30000 crore from internally generated resources. Bharat Stage 4 petroleum and diesel have already been introduced in 26 cities, he said. In recognition of the need for progressively moving towards better and better quality fuel, this exercise will be extended in a phased manner to cover another 37 cities by 2015, Dr. Singh said. Dr. Singh reiterated his recent statement that energy remains underpriced in India. "To meet the target of rapid, inclusive and sustainable development, we must undertake a phased rationalization of energy prices to bring them in line with global prices. The Central and the state government must work together to create awareness in the public on the need for curbing energy subsidies," Dr. Singh said. Shares of oil and gas exploration and production firms will be in focus after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Monday, 7 January 2013, said that the Government of India remains committed to encouraging companies to undertake domestic exploration for oil and gas. He also said that state-run oil companies are looking at opportunities abroad. GMR Infrastructure said after trading hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, that GMR Kishangarh Udaipur Ahmedabad Expressways, a subsidiary of the company, has terminated the concession agreement entered into with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for six laning of 555 Km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway. TTK Prestige said after trading hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, that the company has received Japanese patent for its microwave pressure cooker. Bhushan Steel said after market hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, it has fixed 16 January 2013 record date for rights issue in the ratio of one equity share for every 15 equity shares held. The right issue has been priced at Rs 335 per share. Shares of Bhushan Steel rose 2.13% to settle at Rs 492.10 on BSE on Monday, 7 January 2013, ahead of the announcement. Shareholders will have to pay Rs 167.50 per share on application and an equal amount on first and final call, Bhushan Steel said. Britannia Industries after trading hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, said that Mr. Raju Thomas, who is currently the Chief Financial Officer of the company (CFO), will be relinquishing his office as CFO effective February 1, 2013 and Mr. Vinod Menon, currently the Vice President for Strategy and New Business Development in Britannia, will take over charge as the new CFO as from that date. Colgate Palmolive (India) announced after market hours on Monday, 7 January 2013, that some of the workmen at its Goa toothpaste manufacturing factory have resorted to unauthorised temporary stoppage of work, effective January 6, 2013. They are primarily protesting against the suspension of a workman, who was suspended on disciplinary grounds. The company is following the due process and expects to resolve the issue shortly. The disruption of work at the Goa factory is temporary and will have minimal impact on company business, Colgate Palmolive (India) said in a statement. Key benchmark indices snapped four-day winning streak and settled at their lowest closing level in almost a week on Monday, 7 January 2013, as world stocks dropped. The BSE Sensex lost 92.66 points or 0.47% to settle at 19,691.42 on that day, its lowest closing level since 1 January 2013. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 963.05 crore on Monday, 7 January 2013, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Indian companies will soon start unveiling Q3 December 2012 results. 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 Friday, 11 January 2013. TCS announces Q3 results on 14 January 2013. Axis Bank announces Q3 results on 15 January 2013. Bajaj Auto unveils Q3 results on 16 January 2013. Hero MotoCorp announces Q3 results on 17 January 2013. HCL Technologies announces its Q2 December 2012 results on the same day. HDFC Bank and ITC unveil Q3 results on 18 January 2013. HDFC and Asian Paints unveil Q3 results on 21 January 2013. Maruti Suzuki India unveils Q3 results on 25 January 2013. ICICI Bank announces Q3 results on 31 January 2013. IDFC announces Q3 results on 1 February 2013. Asian stocks drifted lower Tuesday as caution in the wake of strong recent gains and ahead of the US earnings season led investors to lock in profits. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea fell by between 0.17% to 0.83%. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite rose 0.37%. US stocks edged lower on Monday, 7 January 2013, before the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season this week, with investors also watching political developments to resolve the debt ceiling issue. US aluminum major Alcoa Inc. is set to kick off the traditional opening of US earnings reporting season today, 8 January 2013. On Capitol Hill, Republicans are linking raising the US debt ceiling to reduced spending on entitlement programs including Medicare. Congress has to move as soon as mid-February to keep the country out of default. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) holds a two-day meeting on interest rates in the United States on 29 and 30 January 2013.