Markets to extend the bull run with a positive start

The Indian markets extended their bull run in last session, supported by some good earnings announcements and fund buying with the Sensex racing past the psychologically important 20,000 mark in intra-day trades. Today, the start is likely to be in green, as the global cues are mostly favourable, though some profit booking may emerge as the markets are trading near their year high. Traders will also be eyeing the FII movement, which in last couple of days has propelled the markets higher. There will be some buzz in the export sector stocks, as the government has set an export target of $325 billion for the current financial year compared to $360 billion export target for 2012-13 on the back of slowdown in the global markets. The Power stocks too are likely to remain in action on report that the government is working on a plan to allow gas-powered projects to import the fuel and pass on the incremental costs as higher charges.

There will be some important result announcements too, to keep the markets in action. Asian Paints, Bajaj Hindusthan, Escorts, HCL Infosystems, Indian Bank, PNB, Prism Cement and Union Bank will be among the many to announce their numbers today.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday, shrugging off the early pessimism on the back of some good earnings announcement and better economic data from China, all the major indices were up by about half a percent each. The Asian markets have made a mixed start, some of the indices have extended their gains on positive earnings report and Kospi was leading the pack with gain of about a percent as Bank of Korea cut interest rates.

Back home, Indian equity markets extended their northward journey for third straight day buoyed by strong corporate earnings and victory of Congress in Karnataka state election. After a firm opening, markets in the noon deals appeared to be exhausted with their run up rally, the lost momentum was soon restored as both the frontline indices were back on track thanks to better than expected results reported by Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and Lupin, which led Sensex topping the 20,000-mark for the first time since January 31, 2013. Though, Sensex lost its crucial 20,000 mark as profit booking emerged at the end of trade but, both the gauges ended the session at their 14-week high. Sentiments remained upbeat after Congress won state election in Karnataka by capturing about 120 constituencies out of total 224 seats. Sentiments also revived after the government cleared 17 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth around Rs 262.56 crore, including Sanofi-Synthelabo proposal, which was regarding the acquisition of a pharma company through internal accruals and proposes to bring in FDI worth around Rs 180 crore.  On the global front, European counters after a flat start, traded steady as investors mulled strong data from China against a backdrop of record highs in equity markets in Germany and the US. Asian markets too shut shop mostly in green. Back home, sentiments remained jubilant after National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) said the Indian economy is likely to grow by 6.2 percent in the current financial year, significantly higher than the Reserve Bank of India's GDP growth projection of 5.7 percent for 2013-14. Sentiments also got buttressed with the government’s statement that it has taken a slew of initiatives to boost exports and reduce imports to lower trade deficit and thereby Current Account Deficit (CAD). Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 101.23 points or 0.51% to settle at 19,990.18, while the CNX Nifty rose by 25.75 points or 0.43% to end at 6,069.30.