The market should continue to move up, subject to dips

The market traded on a firm footing in the early session; however, gains were erased by weak European markets and profit-booking towards the fag end of the session. The Sensex closed at 17,938, down 48 points (0.2%) and the Nifty shut at 5,386, down 14 points (0.2%). The indices started the day with a sharp rise, taking cues from Asian markets. They traded in a range-bound manner in the morning session. However, the market pared gains in the afternoon session on the back of weak European markets.

Asian markets were up on Wednesday, as better-than-expected results from Intel propped up technology shares in the region. Key benchmark indices in China, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were up 0.6% to 2.7%.

Wall Street rallied for a sixth straight day on Tuesday, on Alcoa's stronger-than-expected quarterly results announced after market hours on Monday. Intel Corp, too, reported results that beat expectations after trading hours on Tuesday. The Dow was up 147 points (1.4%) to 10,363. The S&P 500 was up 17 points (1.5%) to 1,095.3. The Nasdaq jumped 43.6 points (2%) to 2,242.

Singapore's economy grew at a 26% annual pace in the second quarter after a record surge in the previous three months, spurring the nation's currency. Growth was revised to 45.9% for the first quarter, the fastest since records began in 1975, the trade ministry said today.

Back home, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said that inflation would come down to 5%-6% by the year end. Wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation inched higher to 10.55% in June, owing to the pass-through effect of the hike in prices of petroleum products announced on 25th June. However, the double-digit inflation in June could be partly attributed to a low base in the year-ago period when inflation was at -1.01%, which means even a small increase now would seem large.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of stocks worth Rs784 crore on Tuesday. Domestic buyers were net sellers of equities worth Rs650 crore. 

GEI Industrial Systems (up 0.8%) has received two orders worth Rs64 crore from the power sector for supply of air-cooled steam condensers. The orders are for power plants being set up by Ind-Bharat Thermal Power Ltd at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd for a captive power plant at Gandhidham in Gujarat.

Larsen & Toubro (up 2.5%) has won an offshore rig-refurbishment contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) valued at Rs376 crore ($83 million). The company's newly-formed Floating Systems Business Unit (FSBU) has been awarded the project. The unit offers single-point responsibility for execution of offshore drilling rigs and floating production units in both domestic and international markets.

Tata Power Company's (up 0.06%) 50.4MW wind farm at Khandke in Maharashtra was commissioned in December 2007. The application for registration of the Khandke wind farm with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a Clean Development Mechanism project has now been approved. The Khandke project is expected to earn 85,000 Certified Emission Reductions annually from UNFCCC.

Hero Honda Motor's (up 0.7%) promoters have realigned their shareholding in the company. Hero Cycles has transferred its shareholding to Hero Investments. With this the Indian promoter group now consists of Hero Investments and Bahadur Chand Investment.  

Hotel Leelaventure (up 0.7%) has posted a 25% and 67% growth in sales and operating profit respectively.