Markets likely to get a sluggish start of the new series

The Indian markets went through an unexpected range bound session of trade on F&O series expiry day, even though markets managed gain of about a quarter percent. Today, the start of the new series is likely to be soft-to-cautious and the markets may remain rangebound ahead of the weekend. The PSU stocks are likely to remain buzzing with the government clearing the sale of 10% stake in iron ore giant NMDC besides allowing a ministerial panel to look at options other than auction. The Finance Ministry is hopeful of raising Rs 12,000-13,000 crore from stake sale in the public sector undertakings by December-end which could help the government to rein in fiscal deficit. The ailing aviation sector stocks too are likely to remain in lime light, while on one hand the month-long stalemate at Kingfisher Airlines has ended, on other the aviation minister Ajit Singh, reversing an earlier decision and ending a long-running dispute between the government and local airlines, has allowed domestic carriers to establish their own ground-handling units at India's six metro airports,

There will be lots of important result announcements and reactions based on them to keep the markets ticking.  3M India, Dabur India, Gail India, HCC, Hindustan Oil, HUL, ICICI Bank, IDFC, India Infoline, IOB, JSW Ispat, NTPC, PNB, Procter & Gamble, Punjab & Sind Bank, Sesa Goa, Tanla Solutions and Torrent Pharma are among the many to announce their numbers today.

The US markets showed slight pullback on Thursday, though the session remained listless but the stocks eked out some gains on the back of few positive economic data, new applications for jobless claims dropped 23,000 to 369,000, showing hiring outpacing layoffs and US durable goods orders rose more than expected in September. Most of the Asian markets have made a soft start; Chinese market was under pressure due to earnings report, while the Japanese market was marginally in green supported by yen weakness.

Back home, the October series futures and options contract expiry day largely turned out to be a quiet session for the stock markets in India lacking the flavor of high volatility, which typically surfaces on an F&O contract expiry day. Nevertheless, the frontline indices witnessed consolidation through the day’s trade snapping the session with marginal gains. The key gauges tightly held on to the psychological 5,700 (Nifty) and 18,750 (Sensex) bastions and settled tad above those levels. Moreover, the gauges gained about a percentage point in the October F&O series as traders were keen to roll-over their position to fresh month F&O contract on cautious hopes that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will surprise markets by cutting interest rates at its policy review on October 30, 2012. The bourses, however, traded cautiously in the morning session in absence of any positive trigger. But, slew of decent second quarter result strengthened investors’ confidence. Domestic indices gained main strength from European counters, which traded firmly in the early deals ahead of growth number from Britain. Moreover, most of the Asian equity indices ended the session in the green as signs of recovery in China and the United States eased fears of deteriorating global growth. Back home, the gauges also got some support after most of the PSU companies went home with good gains after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in its meeting with the top 25 PSU heads, urged them to invest and grow, and set the pace for India’s growth in the process. Gains in public sector oil marketing companies too boosted the traders’ confidence. Stocks of BPCL, HPCL and IOC all edged higher as US crude oil futures slipped to fresh three-month low on October 24, 2012. On the F&O front, Nifty and Sensex, for October series, registered gains of 1% each, as against the massive 6% in September series. Moreover, the broader markets CNX Mid Cap index garnered gains of over 1.3% while BSE Small cap index, outperforming lager peers by a fat margin, ended with gains of over 3%. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 48.61 points or 0.26% to settle at 18,758.63, while the S&P CNX Nifty rose by 13.90 points or 0.24% to end at 5,705.30.