Conflicting Signals

After giving a cold shoulder to the rate cut by the Fed Reserve, the US markets rallied in the following session. This is possibly because successive Fed rate cuts have failed to sustain the feel-good factor beyond the initial euphoria.

Feedback from the Infosys Technologies chief indicates that the company's performance could vary in the six to eight quarters. With this kind of varied outlooks, taking a call on the markets has become a tough task.

Monsoon calls

Old economy stocks got a boost with the Dow Jones touching a new high. Foreign institutional investors (FII) were more focused on old economy stocks today, especially at the cement counters.

Around three lakh shares of Grasim Industries and five lakh shares of Larsen & Toubro were picked up by the Dutch Brokerage. Signs of a normal monsoon this year could be one of the reasons for their upbeat stand on the sector.

ADR aid

The bourses have sensed HDFC's plan to go in for an American depositary receipts issue and the spurt in the stock helped to keep the rumours alive. The initial trigger for the jump was the hike in FII holding in the company to 49 per cent.

The King Kong Brokerage is reported to have bought around four lakh shares today of which Big Daddy reportedly supplied two lakh shares.

Another stock to mirror the trend on HDFC was ICICI, where a prominent European broking house picked up around seven lakh shares.

Bullish on RIL

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) led the bull charge on economy stocks with Uncle Jam and the Universal Banking Brokerage being the main players at the counter.

The introduction of derivatives trading may herald a new era for trading in RIL since it is a strong contender for being included in the initial list of stocks wherein options trading would be permitted.

Possibly, with this in mind, institutions are mopping up the stock, since backed by delivery they would be able to create good trading opportunities.