New F&O series to make a flat-to-cautious start

Indian markets stabilized on the last trading session and ended with gain of over half a percent owing to series expiry. Today, the start of the new series is likely to be flat-to-cautious. Markets will be reacting to the fiscal deficit and CAD numbers. The country’s current account deficit (CAD) rose to a record high of 6.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the December quarter. However, the markets may get some boost with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s statement that the Cabinet Committee on Investments is expected to give its nod for a number of projects within the next three weeks. Besides, the Environment and Forests Ministry had also informed CCI that it had initiated steps for speedy approval to infrastructure projects, stuck for want of green nod. There will be some buzz in the electronics related stocks, as the government has received fresh investment proposals of over Rs 2,000 crore for three new electronics manufacturing clusters proposed to be set up in southern India. Pharma sector stocks too will be in action as the Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Novartis AG’s plea for getting its blood cancer drug Glivec patented in India and restraining Indian companies from manufacturing generic drugs. There will lots of scrip specific action, as per Nifty’s periodic index review exercise Wipro and Siemens will be replaced by IndusInd Bank and NMDC in the index.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, though the economic news remained mixed but the traders went for buying ahead of the long weekend and expecting good personal income and consumer sentiment data. The Asian markets have made a mixed start and some of the indices are trading lower by about a percent, led by Japanese market after the report of confidence among big Japanese manufacturers rose less than expected. Chinese market too was flat as country’s factory output expanded at a slower-than-expected pace, while many of the markets remained closed.

Back home, Thursday turned out to be a tremendous day of trade for Indian equity markets as both the Frontline indices, after trading choppy for the most part of the session, changed their gear in late trade to re-claim psychological 18,800 (Sensex) and 5,650 (Nifty) levels. Earlier, the domestic markets made a lackluster start tailing sluggish global cues as weak euro zone data, a sluggish debt auction in Italy and fears of a potential run on Cyprus banks stoked investors' concerns about instability in Europe. But, buying which emerged in last leg of trade helped key gauges to end the last day of Futures & Options expiry of March month in a great style after investors scooped up on battered blue chip stocks amidst hopes of strong fund inflow by corporate before the financial year end and strong corporate earnings in the upcoming quarter, which gave the Indian equity markets required boost. Global risk appetite also improved after Germany’s retail sales advanced countering concern over Europe’s debt crisis. European shares edged higher in early deals. Back home, some boost to the local bourses came in from buying in software and technology stocks as scrips like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Technologies gained on hopes of good fourth quarter results. Buying in metal and banking counters too supported the sentiments. However, the upside remain capped as traders remained sideways ahead of the Current Account Deficit (CAD) numbers, slated to be announced later in the day by the central bank for the three months ended December 31. Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan had said that third quarter CAD will be higher but it could come down in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, for the first 11 months of the current financial year, the Centre’s fiscal deficit touched 97.4 percent of revised estimate (RE) for 2012-13. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 5.07 lakh crore against Rs 5.21 lakh crore estimated in the RE. Additionally, Auto remained the lone loser, declining by three fourth of a percent as auto companies will start unveiling monthly sales volume data for March 2013 from April 1, 2013. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 131.24 points or 0.70% to settle at 18,835.77, while the CNX Nifty rose by 40.95 points or 0.73% to end at 5,682.55.Markets remained closed on Friday on account of Good Friday.