The Indian market is likely to see a flat-to-positive opening today. Market participants will track the weekly food inflation numbers and quarterly earnings data for direction as the day progresses. HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Tata Chemicals, Thermax and UTV Software are among the companies that will announce their numbers today. The domestic market was closes yesterday on account of Republic Day.

On the global front, the US markets closed in the green on Wednesday on the back of positive earnings data, ignoring the Federal Reserve’s statement to continue supporting the economy. Markets in Asia were mostly higher in early trade on Thursday, but worries about rising inflation in many countries across the region capped gains. The SGX Nifty was up 19 points at 5,700.50 from its previous close of 5,681.50.

The US markets closed in the green as quarterly earnings reports overshadowed the Fed’s assertion of continuing its support to the economy. The gains were supported by material and energy sectors. Airline stocks—US Airways Group and United Continental Holdings rose on good earnings. On the other hand, Yahoo declined as its quarterly revenue forecast was disappointing. 

The Federal Open Market Committee, after its two-day meeting yesterday, said that the expansion is “continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions.”

Meanwhile, sales of new houses rose 18% to a 329,000 annual pace, according to figures from the Commerce Department. The percentage gain was the biggest since 1992, and was led by a record 72% jump in the West.

The Dow gained 8.25 points (0.07%) at 11,985.44. The benchmark rose above the 12,000 level intraday for the first time since June 2008 before it pared those gains. The S&P 500 rose 5.45 points (0.42%) at 1,296.63 and the Nasdaq advanced 20.25 points (0.74%) at 2,739.50.

Markets in Asia were mostly higher in early trade today despite positive signals from the US. Japanese stocks gained on good earnings reports from US tech and material companies while the Chinese market was fluctuated on concerns about the pace of the recovery and the government’s tight economic policy.

The Shanghai Composite was up 0.28%, the Jakarta Composite gained 0.41%, the KLSE Composite rose 0.45%, the Nikkei 225 advanced 0.25%, the Seoul Composite added 0.11% and the Taiwan Weighted gained 0.56%. On the other hand, the Hang Seng was down 0.14% and he Straits Times fell 0.17% in early trade.

Ahead of the Union budget for 2011-12, the Reserve Bank of India, in its third quarter monetary policy review, had warned that delay in hiking the prices of petroleum products and fertilisers will adversely impact the government's ability to reduce fiscal deficit.

The government started fiscal consolidation in the last budget, when it proposed to reduce fiscal deficit from 6.8% of GDP to 5.5% in the current fiscal. The RBI said if the government does not make up for the rising global oil prices, inflationary expectations will rise and managing it would become difficult.