Market to open higher ahead of F&O Expiry

Headlines for the day

Pantaloon to merge home business - DNA Money

Thermax settles IP row with Purolite - DNA Money

SBI eyes big stake in Tata Motors Finance - Business Standard

Bajaj Holdgs consolidates stake in Bajaj Auto in Rs 180cr-deal - Business Standard

DoT sets new deadline for 3G auctions - Business Standard

Events for the day

Major corporate action

Hathway Datacom to be list today

Ex-date for Stock Split from Rs10/- to Re1/- of Haldyn Glass Gujarat Ltd.

Ex-date for Dividend of Escorts Ltd & MRF Ltd

Economic Survey to be announced today

Weekly Inflation to be announced today

F&O Expiry for the month of February

United Bank of India IPO closes today

Results today: Ranbaxy, Tata Power & Pfizer

Pre-market report

Global signals

The European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with banks gaining after a statement from US Federal Reserve Chairman saying interest rates would remain low. FTSE 100 closed 0.69% lower at 5315.09.

US market closed higher on Wednesday after a move from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke committed that interest rates to remain low. Dow Jones closed higher by 0.89%; Nasdaq closed higher by 1.01%.

In today's trade, all the Asian indices are trading in red zone, except Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng manage to stay in green. At the time of writing of this report SGX Nifty trades 15 points lower.

Indian markets

Indian markets are set to open higher on the back of positive signals that are coming from the global markets. As Railway Budget is over, Markets may remain cautious ahead of upcoming budget.

Among the local indices, the Nifty could test the 4900-4950 range on the up side, while on the down side it could find support at 4800 and 4750. While the Sensex is likely to get support at 15700 and may face resistance at 16700.

Indian ADR's

Among the Indian ADRs trading on the US bourses, all the ADRs closed in the positive territory, except MTNL and Tata Motors that closed lower. However Rediff gains the most by 2.5% followed by Infosysy that grew by 1.71%.

Commodity cues

In the commodity space, wherein the Crude oil prices recorded marginal gain, with the Nymex light crude oil for March series up by $0.11 to settle at $80.11 a barrel.

In the metals space, Comex Gold for April series declined by $6.40 to settle at $1096.80 to a troy ounce.

In the metals space, Comex Silver for March series up by $0.07 to settle at $15.98 to a troy ounce.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

On February 24, 2010, FIIs were the net buyers of the Indian Stocks in the tune of Rs743.90 crore (with the gross purchase of Rs2107.90 crore and gross sales of Rs1364.10 crore).

While the Domestic mutual funds, on February 22, 2010, were the net buyers of the stocks in the tune of Rs88.90 crore (with gross purchase of Rs488.30 crore and gross sales of Rs399.40 crore).