Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
With global markets in the pink of health, we expect India to follow in their footsteps. The key indices will open in the green, in line with the advance across other Asian markets. It remains to be seen if the initial gains can be sustained as most players would like to remain cautious ahead of the Union Budget, on July 6. The Economic Survey will be presented in parliament on Thursday while the Railway Budget will be announced on Friday.
It is up to the Government to nurture the green shoots of economic recovery given that a few headwinds (both local and global) are yet to be weathered. The Budget of course will be an important event for the UPA to convey its policy intent at least for the current fiscal. Investors are also bracing for the latest batch of quarterly results that could provide further insight into the health of Indian companies. One should also keep an eye on corporate earnings across the world to have a better understanding of the global situation.
US stocks rallied overnight amid expectations that key reports on unemployment and manufacturing will show further signs of improvement in economic conditions. The US market will be shut on Friday, as July 4 falls on a Saturday. The jobs data will be unveiled on Thursday.
The CBOE volatility index (VIX), the benchmark index for US stock options, returned to its level before the September collapse of Lehman Brothers. The VIX, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index is known, lost 2.2 percent to 25.35. The VIX measures the cost of using options as insurance against declines in the S&P 500.
Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison for engineering the biggest Ponzi scheme in modern history. Elsewhere in the world, Japan's unemployment rate hits a five-year high, rising to 5.2% in May, as the nation struggles to emerge from a severe recession.
Results Today: Adlabs, Bombay Dyeing, EIH, Electrosteel, FT, Gammon India, Gujarat State Petronet, Hindalco and Ispat Industries.
FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Monday at Rs2.92bn while the local institutions pumped in Rs1.44bn. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net sellers at Rs693.6mn. On Friday, FIIs were net buyers at Rs6.73bn in the cash segment. Mutual Funds were net buyers of Rs3.7bn on the same day.
US stocks ended higher on Monday, with oil and technology shares pacing the advance as investors scooped up shares hit in last week's fall, at the start of a holiday-shortened trading week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 91 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 index gained 8 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq rose 6 points, or 0.3%.
All financial markets are closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday weekend. Ahead of that, a slew of economic reports are due, including readings on housing, manufacturing and the labor market.
US stocks are likely to be volatile this week due to the extended weekend and the spate of economic news. Trading will be lower than usual with a lot of market participants taking off early ahead of the holiday.
The Dow and S&P 500 have closed lower for the last two weeks as a more than three-month rally has lost steam. The S&P 500 had surged more than 40% on bets that the recession is moderating. But worries that stocks have risen too far, too fast have dragged on sentiment lately. The Nasdaq inched higher last week after falling the week before.
Treasury prices rallied, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling to 3.48% from 3.54% on Friday.
US light crude oil for August delivery rose $2.33 or 3.4% to settle at $71.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for August delivery fell 30 cents to settle at $940.70 an ounce.
In currency trading, the dollar fell versus the euro and the yen.
Reports are due Tuesday on consumer confidence, regional manufacturing and home prices.
European shares rose, with banks and oil producers among the best performers amid renewed optimism about the economic backdrop, while Deutsche Telekom received a boost as a result of deal speculation.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index rose 1.7% to close at 208.03, gaining ground for the first time in three sessions.
Germany's DAX index traded up 2.3% to finish at 4,885.09, the French CAC-40 index gained 2% to close at 3,193.68 and the UK's FTSE 100 index rose 1.3% to close at 4,294.03.
Indian markets started off the week with modest gains amid day of trades. After starting off with a positive bias, key indices were unable to hold on their gains as traders and investors preferred to stay on the side lines ahead of the Union Budget to be presented next week.
The consumer durables, realty and metals stocks were in demand. Even the Mid-Cap and the Small-Cap stocks attracted buying interest. The Railway stocks were in the limelight ahead of the Rail Budget to be presented on July 3rd. Stocks like BEML, Kalindee Rail and Texmaco were the talk of the town.
The BSE Sensex gained 21 points or 0.2% to end at 14,785 after touching a high of 14,956 and a low of 14,685. The index had opened at 14,815 against the previous close of 14,764.
The NSE Nifty gained 15 points or 0.3% to shut shop at 4,391.
Among the BSE Sectoral indices BSE Consumer Durables index was the top gainer surging 4.2%, followed by the BSE Realty index up 3%, BSE Metal index up 2.6% and BSE Oil & Gas index up 2.4%.
Even the BSE Mid-Cap index ended higher by 1.1% and BSE Small-Cap index added 1.5%.
However, the BSE IT index slipped 2%, BSE Teck index down 1.2% and BSE Auto index slipped 0.5%.
In the Sensex, the major gainers were, Sterlite Industries, DLF, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Steel, BHEL, Hindalco and NTPC.
On the other hand, major losers were Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, TCS, HDFC, Grasim, Infosys and Hero Honda.
Among the big gainers in the broader market were BEML, GMR Infra, Zee Ent, GE Ship, Union Bank, Tulip Tele, APIL and Yes Bank.
Outside the frontline indices, the top losers included Apollo Hosp, India Cement, Gujarat NRE, Mphasis and Jai Corp.
Aurobindo Pharma is reportedly suing South Africa’s National Treasury after the government awarded a US$400mn AIDS drugs-supply contract to rivals that charged higher prices.
At least 60% of the contract to supply anti-AIDS drugs from June last year to next May went to Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd. and Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd. Aurobindo, claims its prices were almost a third cheaper than locally produced products, stated reports.
The South African government gives preference to local suppliers. The subsidies give Indian drugmakers a cost advantage of 30%, added reports.
Shares of BHEL gained by 1.5% to Rs2235 after the company announced that it secured a contract worth Rs1.7bn from Chennai Petroleum for setting up an energy efficient and environment friendly co-generation power plant at its Manali Refinery. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs2269 and a low of Rs2205 and recorded volumes of over 0.1mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Bharti Airtel erased early gains and ended in the red, the stock was down 0.3% to shut shop at Rs807. According to reports, the company is in talks with four foreign banks to provide US$4bn to pay for its planned merger with MTN Group Ltd.
Shares of Adani Enterprises surged by over 4.5% to Rs824 after the company’s unit Adani Power Ltd. plans to raise about Rs22bn selling shares in an IPO by the fourth week of July. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs827.95 and a low of Rs805 and recorded volumes of over 0.12mn shares on BSE.
Shares of Suzlon Energy declined by over 5% to Rs117 after the company reported consolidated revenues of Rs260.82bn for FY2008-09, a 91% growth over the previous year.
Profit Before Tax for the year (before exceptional items) stood at Rs16.13bn. The net profit stood at Rs4.28bn for the year ended 31st March 2009 as compared to Rs10.17bn for the corresponding period translating in to decline of 58% YoY.