Overnight, Wall Street closed at its best in three months, boosted by strong economic indicators and signs of a possible resolution to the Libyan crisis. Tracking the US markets, the Asian pack was higher in early trade on Friday
A retreat in crude prices, along with positive cues from the global markets, indicates a green opening for the Indian market. Overnight, Wall Street closed at its best in three months, boosted by strong economic indicators and signs of a possible resolution to the Libyan crisis. Tracking the US markets, the Asian pack was higher in early trade on Friday. The SGX Nifty was 40 points higher at 5,594 compared to its previous close of 5,554.

The local market opened in the red on Thursday as concerns about high crude prices led investors to book profits early in the day. Yesterday’s trading session was an extremely volatile one. The Sensex and Nifty opened gap down at 18,318 and 5,478, respectively. During the initial hours of trading, the market fell to its intra-day low of 18,254 and 5,468. However, both the indices hit intra-day highs of 18,604 and 5,571, reacting to the news that the Libyan situation is likely to reach a peaceful solution. A sharp sell-off, however, followed immediately and the market went into the red in the afternoon. Eventually, the Sensex closed 43 points up at 18,490, while the Nifty rose 14 points to 5,536.

Markets in the US closed at their best in three months on strong economic data and signs of a possible solution to the Libyan crisis. Initial jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 368,000 in the week ended 26th February, beating analysts’ expectations of a rise to 395,000. The total number of people receiving unemployment insurance fell to the lowest level since October 2008. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non-manufacturing businesses rose to 59.7, the highest level since August 2005, from 59.4 in the previous month.

This apart, same-store sales rose 4.3% last month, as compared to forecasts of a gain of 3.8%, the 18th straight monthly gain from September 2009.

The Dow surged 191.40 points (1.59%) at 12,258.20. The S&P 500 gained 22.53 points (1.72%) at 1,330.97. The Dow and S&P 500 posted their biggest one-day gains since 1st December. The Nasdaq rose 50.67 points (1.84%) at 2,798.74.

Markets in Asia were in the green in early trade today on cues from the US markets and a retreat in crude prices. The European Central Bank indications of a hike in interest rates next month and speculations of a possible solution to the Libyan crisis also boosted investor sentiments.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.05%, the Hang Seng surged 1.12%, the Jakarta Composite gained 0.86%, the KLSE Composite advanced 0.94%, Nikkei 225 jumped 1.56%, the Straits Times was 1.06%, the Seoul Composite gained 1.14% and the Taiwan Weighted rose 0.81%.

Back home, the government may consider giving approval to the London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources’ $9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India next week, oil minister S Jaipal Reddy said yesterday.

Mr Reddy said his ministry had last week circulated a Cabinet note listing issues for approval.

Vedanta had on 16th August last year announced buying majority stake in the company that owns the nation’s largest onland oil field, from UK’s Cairn Energy. The deal is to close by 15th April.