Markets to get a flat to cautious start

The Indian markets made a late hour bounce back to end higher in last session, there were some positive developments on economy front that helped the markets in recovery. Today, the start is likely to remain cautious as the regional markets are showing a sluggish trend; some upside momentum can be expected in the latter part of the trade. Today markets will be buzzing with the merger-acquisition news with country's first ever amalgamation of a profit earning entity post the global financial meltdown in 2008, as Kotak Mahindra Bank has acquired ING Vysya Bank in a over Rs 15,000 crore deal. Post merger, the combined entity will have market capitalisation larger than Rs 1 lakh crore. There will be buzz in the power sector stocks with Union Cabinet giving its approval to launch “Integrated Power Development Scheme” (IPDS) aims at improving India’s sub-transmission and distribution network. The cabinet has approved four significant decisions for the power sector - Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Integrated Power Development Scheme, North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project, and a framework agreement for energy cooperation among SAARC members. The pharma sector too may be in action, as the Government has said it will rollout a new pharma policy for bulk drugs in 10-15 days which will help the sector grow manifold over the next 5-7 years. There will be some buzz in export oriented stocks, as the RBI has reduced repatriation time of export proceeds to 9 months from 12 from the date of export.

The US markets recovering from their early fall on release of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data, ended higher with the Dow and the S&P 500 once again reaching new record closing highs. Most of the Asian markets are trading weak, led by the Japanese market after yen pared its biggest five-week loss since 1995.

Back home, buying activity which took place during last leg of trade mainly drove the markets higher and key domestic benchmarks managed to keep their head above water on Thursday. Markets traded choppy throughout the session as investors remained cautious ahead of the winter session of parliament which begins next week and RBI’s policy review due on December 2, 2014. But, markets staged a smart recovery in dying hour of trade supported by short-covering in beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. Also, sentiments improved on reports that foreign institutional investors stood net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 71.80 crore on November 19, 2014, as per provisional stock exchange data. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has cleared big-bang market reforms, including a move to replace the two-decade-old insider-trading rules with the new prohibition of insider trading (PIT) regulations, and amending the existing delisting regulations. Further, the coal ministry has issued draft guidelines for reallocation of coal mines cancelled by the Supreme Court, marking the duties of the authorities appointed to operate the ordinance issued. Global cues remained subdued with European markets making an awful start and the Asian markets too ended mostly in the red. Back home, sentiments remained dampened on the back of depreciation in Indian rupee. The rupee fell to as low as 62.13 on Thursday, its lowest since March 4. However, some support came from reports that Private equity investments in the country rose 27% to $3.01 billion in the July-September period, the fifth consecutive quarter of upswing. Meanwhile, stocks related to software and technology counter remained on buyers’ radar as rupee slumped to its lowest level in nine months against the dollar. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 34.71 points or 0.12%, to 28067.56, while the CNX Nifty added 19.60 points or 0.23% 8,401.90.