We expect the market to trade in a range on Thursday

Yesterday we had suggested that the market will trade in a narrow range and remain listless for now. This is what happened. The market opened higher, thanks to overnight strength of the US market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 43.91 points (up 0.41%) to 10,784.89. The Nasdaq rose 20.99 points (up 0.88%) to 2,395.40 and the S&P 500 gained 5.91 points (up 0.51%) to 1,165.81. 

Asian markets were also positive, except Shanghai. But Indian indices soon lost their entire gains and at one time slipped into the red. They recovered in the late afternoon after European markets opened in the black and thereafter closed mildly positive. The BSE Sensex added 36 points (up 0.21%) at 17,447 and the Nifty went up by 18 points (up 0.35%) at 5,223. Volatility was caused by the rollover in the derivatives section from the March 2010 to the April 2010 series ahead of the expiry of the near month March 2010 contracts on Thursday, 25th March.

The biggest gainers were HDFC Bank (2.53%), Reliance Industries (1.42%), Tata Power Company (1.39%), Tata Steel (1.15%), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (0.85%). The biggest losers were Bharti Airtel (3.10%), Tata Motors (2.89%), DLF (1.94%), Grasim Industries (1.63%), ACC (1.56%), and Wipro (1.07%).

Mutual funds (MFs) sold shares worth a net Rs359.50 crore on Monday, 22nd March 2010, which was much higher than the Rs 101.80 crore on Friday, 19th  March 2010. The advance/decline ratio was negative. We expect the market to trade in a range on Thursday which is the day when derivatives expiry takes place. The market is closed tomorrow on account of Ram Navami.

Among macroeconomic news today, the finance ministry has said that the private sector will be allowed to issue infrastructure bonds.  The prime minister said that investment in infrastructure will be to the tune of $1 trillion in the five years to 2016-17. There has been lower investment than envisaged in the 11th Five Year plan in the power, road and port sectors because of the poor performance of these sectors. In the mid-term appraisal of the 11th Plan, the panel expressed concern over the slow growth of the farm sector over the past two years.