Strong Asian markets and positive global cues helped the Indian bourses to stay positive

Indian markets gained momentum during the day on the back of strong Asian markets and positive global cues. At the end of the day, the Sensex shot up 188 points from the previous day’s close to 16,227 while the Nifty closed at 4,856, up 54 points. Tomorrow, we expect Indian markets to continue to remain in positive territory.

At 12:00 hrs IST, the Sensex was trading at 16,064, up 25 points from the previous day’s close. However, at 14:00 hrs IST, the Sensex was trading up 128 points from the previous day’s close at 16,167.

At the end of the day, FCS Software Solutions gained 2%, after the company fixed 2 March 2010 as the record date for a liberal 1:1 bonus issue.

Hindalco Industries rose 3% after the company reportedly said that it hopes to complete raising Rs4,900 crore of debt in the next two weeks to achieve financial closure for Utkal Alumina Refinery, a 15 lakh tonne per annum project in Orissa.

Maruti Suzuki India rose 2% on reports that the company expects a 20% growth in sales and hopes to double its exports to around 1.6 lakh units this fiscal ending March 2010.

Spanco Ltd has been awarded the Rajasthan State Data Centre (SDC) project by the government of Rajasthan. The stock declined 1%.

Bharti Airtel fell 5% on concerns that the company’s $10.7-billion offer for Kuwait-based Zain’s African assets could strain its finances.

Tata Power and Korea East West Power have signed a memorandum of understanding to identify and execute operations & maintenance opportunities relating to third-party generation assets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The stock remained flat.

Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn Ltd has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shri Lakshmi Defence Solutions Ltd, has entered into an agreement with Ukrinmash, a state foreign trade and investment firm of Ukraine, for the supply of 100 armoured vehicles to the UN mission. The subsidiary company has also entered into an agreement with Adcom Military Industries, Abu Dhabi, for marketing of the company’s armoured vehicles in the Middle East and Africa. The stock was down 1%.

REpower Systems AG and EOLE-RES SA, one of the leading French wind and solar developers based in Avignon, have signed an agreement for the supply of 26 wind turbines. Suzlon Energy holds 90.71% stake in REpower. The stock was up 2%.

L&T and Raytheon Company have teamed up in an L&T-led proposal to upgrade the Indian Army’s T-72 tanks. The stock was up 1%.

As per reports, Pronab Sen, the government’s chief statistician, has said that the wholesale price inflation could cross 10% by end-March 2010, depending on how food prices behave in the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, the government amended rules for foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) to allow issuers to revise their conversion price, a move aimed at reducing price uncertainty in a volatile equity market. The change would give issuers a window of six months to adjust the conversion price of their bonds to the higher of either the two weeks’ average or the six months’ average of the issuing company’s stock. The decision unveiled by the finance ministry applies to companies that issued FCCBs before 27 November 2008.

Ashok Chawla, finance secretary, said that the government has resolved the issues related to 3G wireless spectrum auction, but it is not sure if it would happen before the end of the current fiscal year ending 31 March 2010.

During the day, Asia’s key benchmark indices in Japan, Indonesia and South Korea rose between 0.21%-1.08%. Most other Asian markets were closed for the second day in a row for the Lunar New Year holidays. Yesterday, US markets were closed for the Presidents' Day holiday.

As per media reports, euro-zone states urged Greece on Monday to announce more deficit-control steps by mid-March if needed, but said nothing new on last week’s pledge to defend the country if debt market pressures spin out of control.

At talks among finance ministers, Greece has reportedly asked the euro-zone to bear with its fiscal plans as announced, and warned that last week’s offer of support by European Union leaders may not be enough to stem a debt market squeeze on governments in the region.

In premarket trading, the Dow was trading 32 points higher.