Markets set for a flat start; Satyam eyed

Headlines for the day:

Mahindra Satyam posts Rs125 crore loss in FY10

Tata Steel refinances $5-billion Corus loan

RIL offers to buy land of fuel retailers seeking an exit



Events for the day:

Major corporate action

Verdict on the Ayodhya case to be announced today
F&O Expiry for the month of September to be announced today
Commercial Engineers IPO opens today
India’s weekly inflation to be out today, to view the update on this, kindly log on to Sharekhan.com at 12 pm.

Pre-market report

Indian indices

It seemed that bulls have taken a breather in the recent ongoing rally, with the Sensex and the Nifty down by 0.44% each this week. The domestic markets are expected to have a flat start owing to unsupportive global cues.

Today’s session will be quite interesting to be watchful with multiple action-taking places. The domestic markets are expected to remain volatile ahead of the derivative contracts for September, which are set to expire today. The weekly inflation readings are going to be announced later today.

Mahindra Satyam reported net loss of Rs8,300 crore for FY09 and FY10. Mahindra Satyam will hog the limelight after declaring results for the last two years. Tech Mahindra could also be in focus as it is set to merge with Satyam at a later date.

The market sentiments would somewhat get impacted by the Ayodhya verdict, which is scheduled to be out today at 3.30 pm.

Daily trend of FII/MF investment in equities

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought Indian shares worth a net of Rs894.80 crore on September 29, 2010, as compared to Rs1,307.10 crore on September 28, 2010. The domestic investors have sold the Indian stocks worth a net of Rs567.90 crore on September 28, 2010 as compared to net sell of Rs611.30 crore on September 27, 2010.

Global signals

The European markets slipped to a three-week closing low on Wednesday (September 29, 2010), with Hennes & Mauritz leading retailers lower after it posted a weak quarterly profit margin, and as heavyweight banks fell.

The Wall Street took a breather from a month-long rally on Wednesday, with investors bracing for higher volatility going forward as the best quarter in a year nears its end.

The Asian markets were trading lower except Shanghai Composite, tracking the Wall Street losses. SGX Nifty was trading 5.5 points higher, suggesting towards a flat start on the Indian bourses.

Commodity cues

Crude oil hit a seven-week high on Wednesday, pocketing gains of more than 2% after the government data showed a drop in the US crude and product inventories, as the crude oil futures for November delivery was up by $2.21, to settle at $77.86 a barrel.