Positive start: Vote on account in focus

"Everything is interim. Everything is a path or a preparation for the next thing, and we never know what the next thing is" - Shauna Niequist.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram may have presented eight Budgets till date. But his first Vote-on-Account could well be a non-event if there are no major upsets. Nothing good is really expected except the likely revelation on the fiscal deficit figures. Some accounting dressing may ensure that the government meets the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 per cent of GDP for FY14. The vote on account may probably be a dialogue delivery with a political touch though not many sops are expected. Some minor incentives may come in for the auto sector. Going by the book, the FM has to just get Parliament’s approval for expenditure for the four months after March 31. Post market, Finance Minister Chidambaram, Ministers of State for Finance and the finance ministry secretaries will hold post-Budget press conference.

The outlook is a positive start. The market will remain in a tight range till the FM speaks around 11 am. The global cues are mostly positive. On Friday, the Dow rose 0.79%, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.48% and the Nasdaq rose marginally. Asian markets are trading higher even as the Nikkei is slightly lower after the yen saw appreciation; a weak reading on economic growth in Japan (Japan's economy grew just 0.3% in Q4) also hurt sentiment.Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up over a percent while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.44%. China's Shanghai index too was marginally up.

Meanwhile, SBI’s Q3 FY14 earnings performance was marred by higher provisioning, elevated opex growth and jump in tax rate. The key disappointment was substantially higher than anticipated slippages at Rs115bn. Investors will be closely watching Finance Minister Chidambaram’s announcements as he will seek Parliament approval for expenditure for the first quarter of FY15 on Monday. His vote-on-account will also project revenues and expenditure for the entire year.

FIIs were net sellers to the tune of ~Rs. 2,000 crore in a fortnight turning net sellers for this calendar year.

Tata Motors saw its market cap rising during last week as it entered the top-10 list in market valuation. The combined market valuation of 7 blue-chip Sensex companies surged Rs. 25,098 crore last week. TCS, RIL, ONGC and Infosys saw addition in their market-cap.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's recent meeting of its policy-setting committee will be published on Wednesday. The U.S. stock market will be closed on Monday for Presidents Day.

Britannia Industries Ltd reported consolidated revenue growth of 10.2% in Q3 and 12.3% for the nine months at Rs. 1,772 crores & Rs. 5,052 crores respectively.

Shares of DLF Ltd and Spicejet stocks will be in focus today. DLF Ltd has posted a net profit of Rs. 1452.90 mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2013 as compared to Rs. 2848mn for the quarter ended December 31, 2012.

SpiceJet’s passenger traffic grew by 10% and revenues by 14% during the quarter ended December 31, 2013 as compared to quarter ended December 31, 2012.

US export prices rose 0.2% in January, the third straight monthly increase in a potentially positive sign for global economic demand.

In the latest data point affected by harsh winter weather, factory production fell 0.8% in January, the biggest drop in more than 4-1/2 years.

Results watch: Castrol India and Styrolution ABS.

Trends in FII flows: The FIIs were net sellers of Rs158.6mn in the cash segment on Friday, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs450mn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE.

The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs17.05bn in the cash segment on Thursday, according to SEBI data.

In other news in the media:

Bharti Airtel, is set to buy Loop Mobile for about Rs7bn. Under the deal, besides subscribers, Bharti will take over the towers and other network assets of Loop. (BL)

JSW Steel has opposed removing an export duty of 5% on iron ore pellets. In fact, it wants this raised to 30%. (BS)

Piramal Enterprises, has decided to stop all services under its non-banking finance company, Piramal Finance. The latter is to merge with Indiareit Fund Advisors, the real estate venture capital fund of the conglomerate. (BS)

Biocon and US generic drug maker Mylan have challenged Delhi High Court’s interim order which barred them from using Swiss drug innovator Roche’s data to sell their jointly developed biosimilar version of breast cancer drug Trastuzumab. (ET)

The Bajaj Auto management claims "some of the union activists are sabotaging machinery/ equipment, causing deliberate production loss" and "creating an atmosphere of terror by agitations in the plant". (BS)

VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd (VECV) is revving up export plans from India and exploring new global markets, aiming up to 15% of total sales to come from overseas within five years. (BL)

Idea Cellular claims it does not need more to grow its voice business. It says it is expecting its data usage and subscribers to swell manifold and is ready with ‘raw material’. (BS)

The Centre might issue show-cause notices to companies, including the SAIL, Tata Steel, Essel Mining, Jindal Steel and Power and Odisha Mining Corp that hold 75 leases where illegal mining of iron and manganese ores was found by the Shah Commission. (BS)

Vodafone India has said the mobile telecom industry has reached a point where annual tariff increases are needed to sustain itself. (ET)

The SEBI has served a notice on Etihad Airways for alleged violation of the takeover code regulations while acquiring 24% stake in Jet Airways. (BS)

According to "2014 Global Life Sciences Outlook" by consultancy firm Deloitte pharmaceutical sales in India are expected to rise 14.4% to US$27bn in 2016 from last year, but the life sciences and health care industry is up against challenges such as quality management and meeting global standards. (ET)

The rural development ministry will soon come out with a new base and revised index for determining wages under its flagship rural job guarantee scheme, according to an official. The move will address the concerns of at least a dozen states where NREGA wages are lower than the notified minimum wages for agricultural labourers. (ET)

Country's peak power deficit was 5,378 MW or 4% in January 2014. (BL)