Markets are likely to rebound in trades today and make a positive opening tracking firm global cues. The early indicator, SGX Nifty was down 24 points at 6,160 at 0820 hrs.
Markets ended flat yesterday, amid a volatile trading session, shrugging of the surprise move by the central bank which hiked the repo rate by 25 bps to 8% in its third quarter monetary policy review today.
U.S. stocks bounced back on Tuesday after Pfizer’s upbeat results gave investors some relief from the pain of the Dow’s five-day losing streak, and the market’s focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s next move on stimulus.
The market’s advance, which also broke the S&P 500’s three-day slide, came after heavy losses tied to concerns about the withdrawal of U.S. monetary stimulus as well as worries about emerging markets, including a slowdown in China’s growth and political turmoil from Turkey to Thailand.
Last week, the S&P 500 marked its worst percentage loss since June 2012.
Asian markets rallied on Wednesday after Turkey stunned investors with a huge hike in interest rates, stirring hopes the drastic action would short-circuit a vicious cycle of selling in emerging markets and revive risk appetite generally.
The bold move even managed to overshadow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting at which it is widely expected to trim its asset buying program by another $ 10 billion a month.
S&P 500 e-mini futures climbed 0.5% and Japan’s Nikkei jumped 1.7% as safe havens such as the yen and gold all eased. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan bounced 0.5% after three sessions of falls.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Bharti Airtel, Crompton Greaves, Deepak Fertilizer, GAIL (India), Godrej Properties, Havells India, ICICI Bank, Indoco Remedies, Jagran Prakashan, Kalpataru Power, NALCO, Shriram Transport, Tata Global and Titan Company will unveil their third quarter earnings today.
NTPC’s net profit rose 10.2% to Rs 2861.28 crore on 19% increase in net sales to Rs 18779.39 crore in Q3 December 2013 over Q3 December 2012.
State Bank of India launched a share sale to raise up to $ 1.5 billion that will be used to boost its domestic and foreign banking operations, three sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.
Ashok Leyland has infused $ 14.35 million (around Rs 87 crore) last year in its German subsidiary, Albonair GmbH, which works on reducing vehicular emissions.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) subsidiary Prize Petroleum has signed a deal to acquire stakes of Australian major AWE Ltd in two fields of that country.