Markets are approaching their highest level in two years

The market ended on a firm note today. The BSE Sensex closed at 17,644, up 86 points and the Nifty closed at 5,282, up 22 points. It is now once again reaching the highest level in two years, a level it had hit in January. The market has been up for seven weeks in a row and the chances of a correction next week are high. We expect a reaction by the middle of next week.

Asian stock markets were also higher today, despite a subdued overnight market in the US. Japanese exports were looking up due to the weak yen. The key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan rose by 0.41%-1.55%. The Dow Jones rose 5.06 points (up 0.05%) to 10,841.21. The Nasdaq declined 1.35 points to 2,397.41 and the S&P 500 fell 1.99 points to 1,165.73.

Tata Motors (up 3.3%) is reportedly selling about 20% stake in its equipment and service unit Tata Construction Equipment Company (Telcon) to Japan’s Hitachi Construction Machinery Company for about $220 million. Bharti Airtel (down 1.1%) has set up two special purpose vehicles in the Netherlands and Singapore to facilitate the $9-billion Zain deal. ONGC (up 1.8%) is considering buying an asset in Canada that can produce around 10,000 barrels a day of heavy oil, worth at least $1 billion.

Patel Industries has received a $1-billion contract to develop a waterfront integrated township project in Mauritius. GMR Energy, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure (up 1.1%) plans to raise over Rs16,000 crore from a group of private equity players led by Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and banks to fund its expansion. Gitanjali Gems (ended flat) plans to divest 25% of its holding in each of its brands from September 2010. Videocon Industries (up 3.7%) launched its GSM mobile service. The company plans to invest Rs14,000 crore over the next three years to build up the wireless network and will cover 100 towns in the next 100 days. 

Institutional investors are on a buying spree. Foreign and domestic institutional investors purchased Rs653 crore and Rs156 crore yesterday, respectively.

Initial jobless claims in the US for the week ended 20th March were 4,42,000 which was a bit less than the expected total of 4,50,000 and down 14,000 from the prior week. The US Federal Reserve said on Thursday that it would remove the economic stimulus once the economic recovery looks strong. It also hinted that asset sales would be the biggest part in the exit strategy. European leaders decided on Thursday to create a joint financial safety net with the IMF to help Greece. As per the agreement, eurozone nations and the IMF will give a loan to Greece to help it tide over its debt crisis.