Markets open on a quiet note
Markets have opened on a quiet note. Sensex opened up 80 points at 17,041. However, the direction hereafter will be decided by the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review. The Sensex is now up 89 points at 17,028. Nifty is up 26 points at 5,123.
"The short term technical indicators after being positive for the last two weeks can cool off and promote Nifty's downward bias during the early half of the coming week. In such an event, support should emerge around 5000 and 4900 which is 38.2% and 61.8% retracement of the upmove from 4730 to 5160," says PNC REsearch.
On Monday, the US market surged as investors cheered two mergers and good earnings report from Caterpillar. The Nasdaq rallied 2.3% to 2,699. S&P 500 and Dow Jones added around 1% each.
In Asia this morning, markets are trading on a mixed note. The Hang Seng is holding on to Monday's gains and is up 0.4% at 18,849. Investors are more confident about European leaders coming to a broad agreement to contain the region's debt crisis. Nikkei however is down 0.3% to 8,820.
The RBI is likely to hike rates once more by 25 basis points, feel bankers and analysts, in an continued attempt to curb inflation. The central bank on Monday reiterated that inflation remained sticky, but shifted focus to the rising downside risks to growth and a weakening investment climate.
Meanwhile, markets are likely to be volatile today as traders roll-over positions in the futures and options section today.
"Nifty is expected to be range bound for some more time. As on the Call side strike 5200 continues to have the maximum open interest build up of 85.7 lakh shares, and also the strikes of 5100, 5200 & 5300 Call have added the over 34 lakh shares each in OI since expiry, indicating a resistance zone for the Nifty," said Nirmal Bang in a research note.
IT shares are leading gains this morning with the BSE IT index up 1.3% at 5,708. Metal index is up 0.5% followed by auto, banking and realty indices. However, weakness has persisted in capital goods sector as Larsen & Toubro continues to slip after announcing results on Friday. The stock is down 1.2% at Rs 1,278.
Infosys, ICICI Bank and Reliance are the key contributors to the Sensex's upmove this morning. Infosys has jumped 2% to Rs 2,821. ICICI Bank is up 1.3% at Rs 881.
Sterlite, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and Hindalco have advanced 1-2% each. In other stocks, Gail has gained 1% in morning trades after reporting 19% rise in net profit for the September quarter on the back of higher gas trading volumes. Titan on the other hand has dropped 3% in spite of a 16% jump in Q2 net at Rs 148.20 crore.
Meanwhile, BHEL has dropped 1% to Rs 315. ONGC, Hero Motocorp and Tata Power are down 0.5% each.