Living in an impasse!

What we call reality is an agreement that people have arrived at to make life more livable. - Louise Nevelson.

There is no end in sight to the current political standoff over the Lokpal Bill. Anna Hazare’s health seems to be deteriorating as well. No one is willing to give an inch. So, the impasse may persist till there is a meeting of the minds on the anti-corruption bill.



The opening today is likely to be a bright one, with most world markets on a firm footing. US stock benchmarks closed up for a third successive day. Their European counterparts did even better. Most Asian equity indices are up as well.

But, don’t take anything for granted as today is F&O expiry and there may be a few wild swings. For the Nifty, the key support in the immediate future is 4850. On the other hand, 5200 could be a major resistance.

FIIs continue to be net sellers in the cash segment while the DIIs are net buyers.

Meanwhile, gold has lost some of its shine, with New York futures dropping over 5% overnight. Spot gold lost 3.8% overnight. CME has hiked margins on trading at its Comex unit for the second time this month.

Markets are keen to hear out Fed chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday. Some expect him to announce a QE3, but whether Bernanke will oblige or not is a mystery for now.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 8.83bn in the cash segment on Thursday, according to the provisional NSE data. The domestic institutional institutions (DIIs) were net buyers at Rs 5.61bn on the same day. FIIs were net buyers at Rs 19.38bn (provisional) in the F&O segment.

The foreign funds were net sellers of Rs 717mn in the cash segment on Tuesday, as per SEBI data. Mutual Funds were net buyers at Rs 1.19bn on the same day.