Markets to get a positive start on firm global cues

The Indian markets ended the volatile day of trade slightly in the green on Friday as trade deficit during December fell sharply to $9 billion from $16.8 billion in November 2014. Today, the start is likely to be in good taking cues from the gain in global equity markets, while on domestic front traders will be reacting to numbers from Reliance Industries, which came after the trading hours in previous session. The company’s consolidated net profit for the quarter was Rs 5,256 crore as compared with Rs 5,502 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s consolidated sales fell 20.4 per cent to Rs 96,330 crore, while on a standalone basis, sales recorded a drop of 22.5 per cent at Rs 80,196 crore. Investors will be getting some support from report that the FDI for April-November period of the ongoing fiscal, grew by 22% to $ 18.88 billion as against $ 15.45 billion in the same period a fiscal before. There will some buzz in the PSU oil marketing companies after reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2.42 and Rs 2.25 a litre, respectively, even as the government earlier in the day announced increasing excise duty on these fuels by Rs 2 a litre each. The price reduction, as well as the excise increase, comes into effect from Friday midnight. The sugar stocks too may see some action as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved a Rs 10 per quintal increase in the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane to Rs 230 for the 2015-16 season (October-September).

There will be some important result announcements too, to keep the markets ticking. Atul Auto, HUL, Hindustan Zinc, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Indosolar, Mindtree, SSWL, Zensar Technologies are among the many to report their numbers.

The US markets ended higher in last session supported by sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for February delivery jumping $2.44 to $48.69 a barrel. The Asian markets have made mostly a positive start, led by materials companies, after oil rebounded and U.S. consumer confidence jumped to an 11-year high.

Indian equity benchmarks ended the volatile day of trade slightly in the green on Friday. Buying activity which took place during second half of trade mainly drove the markets higher and key domestic benchmarks managed to keep their head above water with Sensex and Nifty recapturing their crucial 28,100 and 8,500 levels respectively. Sentiments remained up-beat after trade deficit for December 2014 stood at 10-month low with further hope that imports will continue to decline. Trade deficit during December fell sharply to $9 billion from $16.8 billion in November 2014. While exports for the month came in at $25.40 billion from $25.96 billion in November, imports declined to $34.83 billion from $42.82 billion in the previous month. Some support also came after India Ratings has expected that Indian economy to grow at 6.5% in the next fiscal from 5.6% this fiscal. The rating agency has also estimated the industry to grow at 6.5% in FY16 against the projected 3.6% in the current fiscal. On inflation front, it highlighted that wholesale price index (WPI) and consumer price index (CPI) based inflation to moderate to 2.8% and 6.0%, respectively, in FY16. However, gains remained capped as investors remained on sidelines ahead of Reliance Industries’ (RIL) Q3 numbers, to be announced later in the day. The company is expected to post its first drop in net profit in six quarters as inventory losses due to a fall in crude oil prices weigh on profitability and take away the benefits of higher gross refining margins (GRMs) in the fiscal third quarter. Global cues remained somber with European markets fell from a one month high and were trading in the red in early deals, trimming a weekly advance as a slump in Swiss shares deepened. Back home, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 1,738.24 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data. Appreciation in Indian rupee too supported the sentiments. Meanwhile, consumer goods stocks gained as easing inflation would increase the purchasing power of consumers while consumer loans would become cheaper on the back of lower interest rates. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged by 46.34 points or 0.17%, to 28121.89, while the CNX Nifty gained 19.65 points or 0.23% to 8,513.80.