Market may open flat to slightly lower

Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 2.50 points at the opening bell.

Hero MotorCorp said after market hours on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 that it has decided to pass on the entire benefit of the excise duty cut to customers. It has judiciously spread out the price cut across the product portfolio ranging from 2% going up to 5% with the maximum reduction being Rs 4500. The government had reduced excise duty on cars, commercial vehicles, sports utility vehicles (SUVs), motorcycles and scooters for the period up to 30 June 2014 in the in the Interim Budget for 2014-15 announced on Monday, 17 February 2014. The excise duty on small cars, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles has been reduced to 8% from 12%.

Ashok Leyland clarified with reference to the news item appearing in the newspaper titled "Ashok Leyland to sell prime property in Chennai" that the company is exploring various options to cut down its debt and has also gone on press about its intention to divest non-core assets in this regard. One of the identified non-core asset that is being looked at for sale will be a property situated in the Boat Club Area in Chennai. As of now the company have not sold the property and may be the speculation would have arisen based on some enquiries on the property, company added.

Kingfisher Airlines after market hours on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 clarified to the exchanges with respect to a news item titled "Kingfisher Airlines CEO Sanjay Aggarwal quits" that Mr. Sanjay Aggarwal has submitted his resignation from the company which has not yet been accepted and is under consideration.

NHPC after market hours on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 said that Unit-1 of Parbati-III H.E. Project has been synchronized at 15:50 IST on 17 February 2014.

Alstom India at the fag end of trading hours on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 said that it has been awarded a contract by NTPC to provide the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) system for its 500 megawatts (MW) Vindyachal super thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh. This project will be the first full scope limestone based FGD for a 500 MW plant in India and the fourth FGD project installation for Alstorn in the country, the company said in a statement. The contract is valued at close to 25 million euros, it said.

The scope of the contract includes delivery of the wet limestone based FGD system for the lx500 MW pulverised coal-fired boiler unit on full turnkey basis including designing, engineering, manufacturing, testing, civil works, erection and commissioning, Alstom India said in a statement.

Patrick Ledermann, Managing Director & Vice Chairman, Alstom India, said, "As the first full scope turnkey Lime Stone based FGD project in India, this project will be a benchmark installation in India. The FGD will have SO2 removal efficiency of more than 90% which further reaffirms our commitment towards providing clean power solutions and our growing footprint in air quality control systems."

Rasoya Proteins after market hours on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 said it has received receipt of approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for increase in investment limit by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) under PIS to 100%.

The Reserve Bank of India next undertakes monetary policy review on 1 April 2014. Citing price pressures, the Reserve Bank of India raised its key lending rates by 25 basis points after Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy for 2013-14 on 28 January 2014.

Key benchmark indices edged higher for the second day in a row on Tuesday, 18 February 2014 after Finance Minister P Chidambaram set a lower fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of GDP for 2014-15 at the time of announcement of the Interim Budget for 2014-15 on Monday, 17 February 2014, and said that the government will contain fiscal deficit at 4.6% of GDP in 2013-14 and as the government announced lower-than-expected gross market borrowing of Rs 5.97 lakh crore for 2014-15. The market sentiment was boosted by data showing that foreign funds were net buyers of Indian stocks on Monday, 17 February 2014. The S&P BSE Sensex garnered 170.15 points or 0.83% to settle at 20,634.21 on that day, its highest closing level since 29 January 2014.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 292.23 crore on Tuesday, 18 February 2014, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

Most Asian stocks fell on Wednesday. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan fell 0.02% to 0.68%. Key benchmark indices in Indonesia, China and Singapore were up 0.08% to 0.46%.

US stocks ended Tuesday higher with the Nasdaq Composite recording its eighth consecutive session of gains, the longest since July 2013.

Manufacturing activity in the New York region gave up most of the strong gains made during the prior month although it remained in positive territory, according to data released Tuesday. The report fits a picture of a manufacturing sector struggling with severe winter weather. The ISM index for the US showed manufacturers suffered from the January chill last month.

A gauge of confidence among home builders plunged in February, dropping to the lowest level in nine months, led by weaker views on present sales of single-family homes, according to data released Tuesday.

The housing-market index dropped to 46 this month from 56, signaling that builders, generally, are pessimistic about sales trends, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo, which cited “unusually severe weather conditions,” among other factors.

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said last week that US growth has strengthened and that only a "notable change in the outlook" for the economy would prompt policy makers to slow the pace of cuts to the monthly bond-buying program.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) next undertakes monetary policy review on 18-19 March 2014. After a monetary policy review, the FOMC on 29 January 2014 announced it will reduce monthly bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion. The Fed also signaled that it is likely to keep reducing bond purchases in the coming months, citing a pickup in US economic activity and improvement in the US labor market.