Refrain from asking what is going to happen tomorrow, and everyday that fortune grants you, count as gain.
The bulls may have found their winning ways for quite some time now. But the bears will hope some profit booking will bring them into focus sooner than later.
The market may open flat to weak and therafter chart its own course depending on what investors expect in tomorrows monetary policy.
On the positive side, bulls will hope some rate cut takes place. The cacophony of the Lok Sabha elections continues with the market more or less pricing in a fractured verdict. These concerns will play up closer to the election results next month. For now the larger market seems to be quite ignoring the corporate results though stock specific activity will continue depending on the results. Though the mood remains positive a much need cooling has evaded the market for some time.
Globally, investors are hoping that companies deliver results which show signs of revival and are hoping that firms, especially in the financial sector are not sitting on any landmines.
In the US, results of Bank of America and IBM will be closely watched. Asian markets declined in the morning trades on the back of worsening earnings.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost nearly 1% to 88.92 as of 10:40 a.m. in Tokyo. The Nikkei index in Japan was down by 1% to 8,822, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong edged lower by 0.4% to 15,542.
However, the Shanghai SE Composite in China was up by 0.7% to 2,521.
Results today – Axis Bank, Sesa Goa, TCS, Merck Ltd, Escorts, Polaris.
Some attention will be paid to what the RBI does on Tuesday after it has cut repo rate by 400 basis points to 5% in five steps since Oct 20 ’08.
International investors seem to suggest that the downturn may have reached its end with rising flavor for equities. Meanwhile, reports state that the share of mutual fund assets under management (AUM) by foreign and predominantly foreign companies in India has declined drastically over the last fiscal, ended March 2009.
Assets managed by foreign and dominantly foreign asset management companies (AMCs) have fallen to 11.5 per cent of the total AUM of the industry, from 20.6 per cent in March 2008, the report added.
The Indian AMCs accounted for 79.39% of the total asset base of the industry as on March, 2008, while this has come up to 88.5% as on March, 2009.
The Nano continues to do wonders even before making its impact on the road. Tata Motors has sold nearly 500,000 application forms, bringing in Rs150mn.
Tech Mahindra has raised Rs6bn from non-convertible debentures (NCDs). The money has been raised to pay for the acquisition of Satyam Computer Services.
US President Barack Obama said he would soon announce the elimination of dozens of wasteful or ineffective government programs as part of a broad effort to restore fiscal accountability to the federal budget.
Paul Volcker, senior economic adviser to President Barack Obama, said that the US economic recovery will be a long slog but that the rate of decline "is going to slow."
The United States may not be in a Great Depression but it is "in a great recession for sure," following the economy's unprecedented tumble in late 2008, Volcker said at a financial markets conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for more surveillance of countries that issue major reserve currencies, according to published.
With a lot of noise being made about Swiss bank accounts, Switzerland says it will have to examine any request it receives for release of data about those having secret accounts in Swiss banks or for revision in the treaty or agreement that India has with Switzerland, the Swiss Ambassador, Mr Philipppe Welti said.
Initial jobless claims plunged to 610,000 in the week ended April 11, reported the U.S. Department of Labor.
In the US, big companies due to report results this week include Bank of America, American Express, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM and Apple.
Bulls staged a come back after sliding sharply ending the week on a high. The interest rate sensitive stocks led from the front followed by the IT and the Capital Goods stocks. The BSE Sensex advanced 75 points, or 0.7%, to close at 11,023 and the NSE Nifty ended higher by 14 points at 3,384.
Among the 30-components of Sensex, 15 ended in negative terrain and 15 ended in the green. Among the major gainers were, L&T, ICICI Bank, Infosys, SBI, Reliance Infra and HDFC.
Among the major loser were Hindalco, Sun Pharma, Sterlite, Tata Steel and Tata Motors.
Among the BSE Sectoral indices BSE Realty index was the top gainer, the index gained 4%. Among the other major gainers were BSE Bankex index (up 4%), BSE IT index (up 3%) and BSE Capital Goods index (up 3%).
Market breath was positive, 1,404 stocks advanced against 1,156 declines, while, 87 stocks remained unchanged.
Bulls may continue to be on a roll next week, as risk appetite is on the rise amid some tentative signs of recovery in the global economy, particularly in the US. Confidence in the western financial system is improving following positive results from the likes of Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Economic reports too do not appear to be as grim as a few months back, though a sustained rebound may still be some way away. Outflows by global funds have turned into relatively strong inflows, including in emerging markets like India.
All these positives have raised optimism that the world economy and financial markets may be turning a corner.