Downside appears limited if Nifty closes below 5150: Analysts

The 50-share Nifty index slipped to its 2-month low on Thursday, breaking key technical support levels of 5150 on weak global cues.

"Despite Nifty momentarily breaching the 5150 mark on an intra-day basis today, the outlook for Nifty remains positive. Even if Nifty closes below the 5150 mark, the downside appears limited to 2-3%," said Vinit Pagaria, VP - Investment Strategies, Microsec Capital Ltd

Nifty has been holding on to the crucial support band of 5150-5170 since the last few days. It tested a low of 5174.90 on Monday, 5184.65 on Tuesday and 5169.60 on Wednesday.

The 50-share Nifty index was down 0.9 percent at 12:40 hrs, breaking below the 200-day moving average for the first time since Feb. 1.

Some of the momentum oscillators like stochastics are in the oversold territory and indicate that a sharp upside is possible from here on in the short term.

"We continue to believe that traders should go long between 5000 and 5250 with upside targets of 5400, 5630 and finally 5900," added Vinit.

Microsec Capital advises traders to write Nifty April Put options of strike 5100 and strike 5200.

According to analysts, expiry of March derivatives contracts today and the end of the fiscal year at the end of the week is also adding to the volatility.

"Beginning today, it is a new settlement for the FIIs in the sense that whatever they buy now will go into the new financial year. In case FIIs do press the gas on the downside, the domestic market as well as the retail investors may not be able to absorb the selling pressure," said VK Sharma, Head of Business, Private Broking & Wealth Management, HDFC Securities.

"Chances are the markets would crash and we might see Nifty going down to levels below 5000," added VK Sharma.

National Stock Exchange data showed provisional net purchases of Rs 148 cr ($29.15 million) on Thursday, bringing total net sales for the week to about $39 million.

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Nifty hovers around 5500; market awaits SBI results for cue

The Indian markets opened on a subdued note awaiting results of India's largest public sector bank SBI. The limelight was hogged by MSCI India addition stocks in early trade.

At 09.20 hrs IST, the Sensex was up 39.15 points or 0.21% at 18384.18, and the Nifty was up 5.80 points or 0.11% at 5504.80. About 530 shares advanced, 191 shares declined, and 2920 shares remain unchanged.

Buying was seen in capital goods, FMCG, IT and consumer durables stocks. The broader markets too were trading with nominal gains.

Titan Ind, Shriram Transport, Mundra Port, Dabur, Bank of India and Asian paints have been included in MSCI India Index. The stocks have rallied in the range of 2-11%.

Top gainers on the Sensex: TCS, Sterlite Industries, Larsen, Bajaj Auto and Cipla were up 0.-1.1%.

Top losers on the Sensex: ONGC, Hero Honda, NTPC, Wipro and Maruti Suzuki were down 0.5-3.5%.

Government increased upstream subsidy share to 38.5% of total subsidy burden for FY11. Now upstream companies like ONGC will have to bear Rs 30,000 crore in FY11, reports CNBC-TV18, quoting Sources.

According to CNBC-TV18's estimates, SBI's January-March quarter net interest income (NII) is seen at Rs 9176 crore, a growth of 37% as against Rs 6721 crore, same quarter previous year. Its Q4 PAT is seen up 59% at Rs 2963 crore versus Rs 1866 crore, YoY.

Midcap gainers: Kalpataru Power, State Bank of Mysore, CMC, KSK Energy and Berger Paints were up 2.5-6.5%.

Midcap losers: Page Industries, SKS Microfinance, Greaves Cotton, Godrej Proper and Bharat Forge were down 1.4-2.6%.

Smallcap gainers: Unisys Soft, Prime Securities, Ashapura Mine, Nirlon and Money Matters were up 4-6%.

Smallcap losers: Empee Sugars, R M Mohite Inds, Apar Ind, Halonix and Consolidated Co were down 4-10%.

Stocks to watch

Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd after it said it would consider issue of preference shares to Gammon India on May 19.

Software services firm CMC Ltd after it won an order from the Life Insurance Corporation of India.

Shalimar Paints after the Financial Express cited sources as saying the paints maker was up for sale and Kansai Nerolac and Sherwin-Williams were in the race to buy it. The company's chief operating officer, Sandeep Sarda, told the newspaper it does not comment on market speculation.

The US markets slid as technology stocks unraveled, and investors worried about the euro zone debt crisis and its impact on the economic recovery. Asian markets also trading in red.

Market cues:
Results Today: SBI, Bajaj Finserv, HT Media, Opto Circuits, Prestige Estates, Petron Eng
FIIs net sell USD 825 million in the cash market on May 13
MFs net buy Rs 14.80 cr in cash market on May 13
NSE F&O Open Int was up by Rs 4393 cr at Rs 1.42 lakh cr
MSCI India additions: Titan Ind, Shriram transport, Mundra port, Dabur, Bank of India, Asian paints

F&O cues:
Total Futures Open Int up Rs 1008 cr and Total Options Open Int up Rs 3385 cr
Total Stock Futures OI add 1.63 cr shares in OI
Nifty Futures OI add 12.11 lakh shares in OI
Nifty discount at 10.3 pts Vs premium at 14.15 pts
Nifty Open Int PCR at 0.96 Vs 1.05
Total Put sheds 4.61 lakh shares in OI
Total Call adds 58.55 lakh shares in OI
Highest OI Outstanding At 5400 Put, 5800 Call and 5600 Call
Nifty 5500 Call adds 29.10 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5600 Call adds 16.61 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5400 Call adds 7.35 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5700 Call adds 3.5 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5400 Put adds 3.12 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5600 Put sheds 9.05 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5200 Put sheds 2.3 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 6000 Call sheds 2.22 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5800 Put sheds 1.06 lakh shares in OI
Nifty 5500 Put sheds 1.06 lakh shares in OI
India VIX up 4.02 % at 21.46
Deccan Chronicle, PFC and Orchid Chem in F&O ban

(With inputs from Reuters)

Air India strike called off

Government agrees to reinstate sacked and suspended pilots

Air India pilots called off their 10-day strike on Friday night (6 May 2011), after the government agreed to reinstate the sacked and suspended pilots and look into their demands within a timeframe.

After the several hours negotiations with the officials of Civil Aviation ministry and the assurance from the Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel that status quo will prevail on cost cutting measures relating to productivity-linked incentive (PLI), the strike was called off by Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA).

The 10-day strike by the Air India pilots demanding pay parity and better working conditions resulted in cancellation of about 90% of the domestic Air India flights and an estimated loss of Rs. 150 crore to the airlines. But it expected that Air India operations will be normalized in the next two days as the pilots have resumed their work from Friday (6 May 2011) night.

Bear hug costs Sensex 1392 pts in 8 days; Hero Honda up 6%

The mood on Dalal Street has not improved yet after the key rates hike and hawkish tone set by the RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao in a policy meeting on May 3. The Sensex shed nearly 259 points on Thursday, with continuing downtrend for eighth consecutive session.

Experts see earnings downgrade in the quarter ended June 2011 after the 50 basis points hike in repo and reverse repo rate. Interest cost of the companies will increase going ahead as banks have slowly been increasing their lending rates.

Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Shares & Securities feels that people basically want to sit on cash for a simple reason that there is a kind of possibility of earning downgrade happening going forward once this particular oil price hike is announced.

Inflation is a major cause of concern, says Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "Food and oil prices are major inflation factors," he said. Food articles inflation for the week ended April 23 was at 8.53% as against 8.76% in previous week. Fuel group inflation was unchanged at 13.53% during same period. RBI governor has made the move to contain inflation without hurting country's growth.

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, Credit Suisse says that the Indian economy and markets are facing a particularly unpleasant combination of macroeconomic circumstances right now. "This includes high inflation, rising interest rates and the likelihood of downside growth surprises. This situation may continue for some months making us pessimistic about the equity market outlook," he said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 258.78 points or 1.40%, to close at 18,210.58 and the 50-share NSE Nifty closed below the 5500 mark for first time since March 23, down 77.30 points or 1.40% to 5,459.85, dragged down by 42 shares out of 50.

Choksey feels that the Nifty could possibly stay in range of 5400-5700 because the option traders are basically taking a strong long bet on the 5400 level.

Amit Dalal, Executive Director, Tata Investment Corporation said there would be some more pressure mainly because people have to still adjust their portfolios worldwide. "So there maybe some largecaps where there maybe selling based on global perspective," he said.

Realty, power, FMCG, healthcare, banking, metal, technology and capital goods stocks saw selling pressure today, with respective indices falling 1-3%.

Bharti Airtel plunged more than 3% after less than expected bottomline reported in fourth quarter on dip in margins. India's largest telecom operator reported net profit of Rs 1,401 crore on consolidated basis as against street expectations of Rs 1,740 crore.

Largecaps like TCS, NTPC, ITC, ICICI Bank, Sterlite, HDFC Bank, HUL and BHEL were down 1-3%. Tata Power, Reliance Power, PNB and Reliance Communications plunged 5-6%.

Ranbaxy Labs was the biggest loser on Nifty, with falling 6%. US Federal prosecutors are negotiating a settlement with Ranbaxy that could result in fines and payments exceeding USD 1 billion, as mentioned in the Fortune Magazine, for fraudulent conduct alleged by the FDA, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

ACC and Ambuja Cements tumbled about another 4% after Holcim increased stake above 50% in both companies.

However, Hero Honda showed outstanding performance today, with rising 6% on short covering. Analysts feel that company's fourth quarter EBITDA performance was better than street expectations.

The broader indices too were down around 1%. Midcap stocks like HDIL, Shriram City, Redington, Hathway Cable and Marico lost 5-8%.

However, Jyothy Labs, Apollo Hospital, United Phosphorous, Tulip Telecom and Religare Enterprises gained 3.5-7%. Rs 474.75 3.51%

About 899 shares advanced as against 1955 shares declined on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Coal India strikes record high

The key benchmark indices recovered after hitting fresh intraday lows. The BSE 30-share Sensex was down 36.59 points or 0.19% to 19,255.43, up 42.80 points from the day's low and off 101.07 points from the day's high. The market breadth turned negative from positive. Weak Asian stocks and data showing sustained selling by foreign institutional investors this week weighed on the sentiment.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) snapped a four-day 6.35% fall on bargain hunting. Oil exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation extended Thursday's gains triggered by reports of rise in oil and oil equivalent gas production in the year ended March 2011. Coal India struck record high on reports of getting imported coal at discounted prices. Auto shares were mixed. Cement shares rose as top cement firms -- UltraTech Cement and ACC early this week forecast strong growth in cement demand at the time of announcing January-March 2011 quarter results. Most bank stocks declined as the central bank is seen raising key short-term interest rates by a minimum 25 basis points at a policy review early next week.

As per provisional data released by the stock exchanges, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs. 832.59 crore on Thursday, 28 April 2011. Foreign funds sold shares worth a net Rs. 796.80 crore in secondary equity markets in three trading sessions from Monday, 25 April 2011 to Wednesday, 27 April 2011, as per data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

At 11:25 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was down 36.59 points or 0.19% to 19,255.43. The index gained 64.48 points at the day's high of 19,356.50 in early trade. The Sensex fell 79.39 points at the day's low of 19,212.63 in morning trade, its lowest level since 20 April 2011.

The S&P CNX Nifty was down 6 points or 0.10% to 5,779.45. The Nifty hit low of 5,764.50, its lowest level since 20 April 2011.

The market breadth, indicating the health of the market, turned negative from positive breadth earlier in the day. On BSE, 1060 shares advanced while 1320 shares declined. A total of 99 shares remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs. 1129 crore by 11:25 IST compared with Rs. 741 crore by 10:25 IST.

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 16 gained while the rest declined.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.68% to Rs. 980.50, halting a four-day 6.35% fall, on bargain hunting. Reportedly Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance group is in talks to buy the stake held by Bharti Enterprises in an Indian insurer joint venture with AXA Group. Bharti AXA is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises, which controls India's largest listed cellular services provider Bharti Airtel, and AXA, Europe's second biggest insurer. Shares of Bharti Airtel declined 0.61%.

RIL said recently that it is drawing up a plan to raise gas production from its D6 deepwater block in the Krishna Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal, off India's east coast. RIL said the reservoirs in the block are more complicated than previously expected and continuous and significant efforts are underway for understanding these reservoirs. RIL said it is trying to identify well locations for incremental production and sustenance.

Gas output from the block touched a peak of 60 million metric standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) last year. Production has now fallen to 50 mmscmd as against a target of 69.8 mmscmd, S.K. Srivastava, head of India's upstream regulator, said last week. He also said that Reliance hasn't given any satisfactory response on the matter.

Integrated development plan for all other discoveries in KG-D6 is being conceptualized to augment production in the most capital efficient manner, RIL said on 25 April 2011. The company said it is studying various options such as recompletion of wells and compression to increase gas production.

India's largest oil exploration firm by market capitalization Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rose 0.52%. The stock extended Thursday's close to 2% gains triggered by reports the company's oil and oil equivalent gas production rose 1.8% to 62.03 million tonnes in the year ended March 2011 over the year ended March 2010.

Coal India rose 1.28% to Rs. 381.10 after striking a record high of Rs. 383.30 on reports the company has received 27 proposals from 16 companies for getting imported coal at discounted prices.

India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank rose 0.28% on strong Q4 results. During market hours on Thursday, the bank reported a 44% jump in net profit to Rs. 1452 crore on 23% growth in net interest income to Rs. 2510 crore and an 18% growth in fee income to Rs. 1791 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010. Consolidated net profit rose 16.85% to Rs. 1567.93 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010.

The bank said its savings deposits increased by 26% to Rs. 66,869 crore as at 31 March 2011 from Rs. 53,218 crore as at 31 March 2010. The CASA (current & savings accounts) deposits ratio increased to 45.1% as at 31 March 2011 from 41.7% as at 31 March 2010. ICICI Bank's net non-performing asset ratio decreased to 0.94% as at 31 March 2011 from 1.87% as at 31 March 2010 and 1.16% as at 31 December 2010.

Most bank stocks declined as the central bank is seen raising key short-term interest rates by a minimum 25 basis points at a policy review early next week. India's second largest private sector bank by net profit HDFC Bank slipped 1.66% while India's largest bank by net profit and branch network State Bank of India declined 0.73%.

Auto shares were mixed. India's largest bike maker by sales Hero Honda Motors lost 2.10% to Rs. 1660.50 ahead of declaration of its year ended March 2011 result on 4 May 2011. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack.

India's largest tractor and utility vehicles maker by sales Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) slipped 1.47%. The company on Wednesday announced the launch of its next generation passenger carrier Maxximo Mini Van priced at Rs. 3.2 lakh. Maxximo Mini Van will compete with Tata Magic and Maruti Omni in the mini van segments.

India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors fell 0.63%. Recent reports indicated the company has cut production in April 2011 of its sports-utility vehicles and cars--besides the Nano--by 15%-20% over March 2011. The production cut is normal balancing in production, reports said.

India's largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki India rose 1.12%. Chief Executive Shinzo Nakanishi said at the time of announcing Q4 results early this week that Maruti will make efforts to protect and increase margins going forward. Net profit fell 8.4% to Rs. 2288.60 crore on 24.60% increase in total income, net of excise, to Rs. 37522.40 crore in the year ended March 2011 (FY 2011) over the year ended March 2010. The company announced the FY 2011 results during trading hours on Monday, 25 April 2011. The company said adverse currency movement (particularly on exports), higher commodity prices and new model launches impacted the company's profits in the year ended March 2011.

India's second largest bike maker by sales Bajaj Auto rose 0.52%. The company announces its Q4 March 2011 result on 18 May 2011.

India's largest household products maker Hindustan Unilever gained 2.26% to Rs. 285 and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. Reportedly the company has formed customer care teams to help boost efficiency and sales after studying product demand and customer behaviour at supermarkets.

India's second largest listed cellular services provider by sales Reliance Communications rose 0.96% on bargain hunting after sliding over 5% on Thursday on investor worries about the ongoing telecoms licencing graft case.

Reliance Infrastructure rose 0.16%. The company said after market hours on Thursday it bought back additional 2 lakh shares on Thursday, 28 April 2011, under its buyback programme of up to Rs. 1000 crore. The company has so far bought back 10 lakh shares under the buyback programme.

GVK Power Infrastructure advanced 2.07% to Rs. 24.65 after a large bulk deal of 1.5 crore shares was executed on the counter at Rs. 24.15 per share at 09:47 IST on BSE.

Crompton Greaves tumbled 9.92% on high volume of 14.49 lakh shares after consolidated net profit declined 18% to Rs. 251.43 crore on 16% rise in net sales to Rs. 2908.03 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010. The result was announced after market hours on Thursday, 28 April 2011.

Cement shares rose as top cement firms -- UltraTech Cement and ACC early this week forecast strong growth in cement demand at the time of announcing January-March 2011 quarter results. ACC (up 0.26%), India Cements (up 0.23%), Madras Cement (up 1%), UltraTech Cements (up 2.15%), Shree Cement (up 0.23%), (up 8.28%), Prism Cement (up 2.66%), gained. Ambuja Cements surged 2.39% on massive volume of 5.34 crore shares on NSE.

The corporate results announced so far have been good. The combined net profit of a total of 380 companies rose 23.2% to Rs. 30693 crore on 26.3% rise in sales to Rs. 261302 crore in Q4 March 2011 over Q4 March 2010.

Nine of 14 economists polled by Capital Market expect 25 basis points (bps) hike in key short-term interest rates while five expect a 50 bps hike in short-term rates on 3 May 2011 when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) undertakes its annual 2011-2012 monetary policy review. A cumulative hike of 75-100 bps in short-term rates is expected during the financial year ending March 2012 (FY 2012). 100 bps is one percentage point or 1 %. Economists expect inflation based on the wholesale price index (WPI) to slide to a median 7.8% in FY 2012 from 9.4% in the year ended March 2011 (FY 2011). The poll shows that economists expect inflation to remain high in the first half of the year and slide in the second half of the year.

A sharp surge in global crude oil prices over the past few months has raised macroeconomic worries. India imports majority of its crude oil requirements and high oil prices have raised concerns about widening current account deficit. High oil prices have also raised concerns about higher oil subsidy bill for the government and its negative impact on the government's fiscal position. US crude futures were down 38 cents or 0.34% at $112.48 a barrel.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted the southwest monsoon 2011 to be 98% (normal) of the long period average (LPA) with a model error of plus/minus 5%. IMD has indicated that there is very low probability for the season rainfall to be deficient (below 90% of LPA) or excess (above 110% of LPA).

Good rains, if they arrive on time and if they are well spread, would help ease food inflation and boost rural income. Rainfall that comes within 96% to 104% of the long-term average is considered a normal monsoon season, but this alone doesn't guarantee a good crop. The timing and spread of the rains are equally important. The quantity and geographical spread of rainfall during the monsoon season is crucial for India's agriculture sector, which lacks irrigation facilities on more than half its farm land. Monsoon rains usually enter India's mainland through the southern state of Kerala in the first week of June, gradually progressing to cover most of central and northern India by July, before retreating in September.

Asian stocks declined on Friday after a report showing slowdown in US economy sparked concern whether earnings improvement can be sustained. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Hong Kong slipped by between 0.02% to 1.07%. Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.

US stocks extended their multi-year highs on Thursday as the market clung to optimism generated by the Federal Reserve's plans to keep interest rates low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 72.35 points, or 0.6%, to 12763.31, its highest close since 20 May 2008. The Nasdaq Composite index added 2.65, or 0.1% to 2872.53, its highest close since 12 December 2000 and the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 4.82, or 0.4%, to 1360.48, finishing at its highest level since 9 June 2008.

In economic news, US gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 1.8% in the first quarter compared with a 3.1% gain in the fourth quarter last year. Initial jobless claims for the week ended 23 April 2011 rose by 25,00 to 429,000, the highest level since January 2011 and pending home sales index of contract signings rose 5.1% to 94.1 in March 2011, from 89.5 in February 2011.

Trading in US index futures indicates a flat opening on Friday, 29 April 2011.

Mahindra takes aim at minivan market

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, the country’s largest utility vehicle maker, has launched a minivan, a derivative of its Maxximo minitruck, to compete with Tata Motors Ltd’s Magic and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Omni.

With this, Mahindra hopes to capture a slice of the market for minivans in small towns and cities. Tata’s Magic is the segment leader and sells 5,000-6,000 units a month. The market for minivans is about 140,000 units a year, Mahindra said.

Minivans are emerging as the top choice for both entry-level contract and stage carriages, said Rajesh Jejurikar, chief executive of Mahindra’s automotive division.

Priced at Rs.3.2 lakh (in Navi Mumbai, excluding taxes and insurance), Mahindra’s minivan is Rs.1,500 dearer than the Magic.

In the absence of a formidable competitor except the Magic, the new offering augurs well for Mahindra, said Surjit Arora, an analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher India Pvt. Ltd. But like Tata’s Ace, a mini-truck with a payload capacity of less than 1 tonne, the Magic will continue to enjoy the first-mover advantage, he said.

Tata Motors created a new segment when it launched the Ace in 2005. Similar offerings from rivals such as Piaggio Vehicles India Pvt. Ltd, Force Motors Ltd and Mahindra have entered the market but they have not been able to dent Tata Motors’ share much. The Ace continues to sell 15,000-16,000 units a month.

Mahindra spent Rs.130 crore on its minivan project. The vans will roll out from its factory in Chakan near Pune. The line that makes the Maxximo truck has a capacity to manufacture 6,000 vehicles a month.

Mahindra has sold nearly 40,000 of its mini-truck since the launch in January 2010.

Mahindra’s minivan will reach 230 dealer outlets nationwide by June, said Jejurikar. Subsequently, the company plans to offer a CNG (compressed natural gas, a less-polluting fuel) variant.

It also plans to export the vehicle to neighbours Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, he said.

Sales of light commercial vehicles—such as Magic, Ace, Maxximo and Gio (another sub-1 tonne offering from Mahindra)—have been expanding at a healthy pace with auto makers tapping into the segment that addresses last-mile connectivity.

Sales of these light vehicles, which accounts for more than half of all commercial vehicle sales in the goods and passenger carrier segment, increased 22.88% to 353,000 units in the year that ended 31 March, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

According to research by credit rating agency Icra Ltd, the light commercial vehicle segment in India is seeing a polarization towards the sub one tonne market; the demand is also shifting from the traditional three-wheeler segment to this segment. Icra estimates growth in the light commercial vehicle segment to be marginally higher than that of the medium and heavy duty segments, which are projected to expand at 9.5-11.5% over the next five years.

Sensex opens higher in early trade

Snapping a three-day losing streak, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recovered by over 93 points in opening trade on Thursday on the back of a fresh spell of buying by funds as well as retail investors amid a firming trend on other Asian bourses.

However, participants kept their commitments restricted, on Thursday being the last session of monthly expiry in the derivatives segment on the NSE.

The 30-share barometer, which has lost nearly 153 points in the previous three sessions, rose by 93.36 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 19,542.05.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also moved up by 22.50 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 5,856.40.

Brokers said the emergence of buying by funds and investors, taking positive cues from other Asian markets in line with overnight gains in the US market following the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold short-term interest rates near zero, boosted the sentiment here.

Meanwhile, in the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up by 0.54 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei by 1.13 per cent in morning trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.76 per cent higher in the previous session.

Sensex falls on Asian cues; Banks, IT, auto down

The Indian markets have opened lower tracking global cues. The Sensex was trading 148 points lower at 19,435 and the Nifty declined 46 points to 5,828 at 9.50 am.

Realty stocks rebounded after Monday's declined. The BSE realty index rose 0.38 per cent. All other sectoral indices were trading in the red. Banking, auto and IT stocks fell close to 0.50 per cent.

Only four stocks rose on the Sensex. Reliance Com was the biggest gainer, rising 0.86 per cent. Jindal Steel, ONGC and Bharti also saw buying interest.

Among the losers, Sterlite saw the biggest cut, falling 2 per cent. The stock had seen a good run-up to the results, rising for the past few sessions. The company reported strong numbers on Monday, announcing a 35 per cent rise in net profit. Maruti declined 1.4 per cent. The stock rose on Monday after the company beat Street expectations in this quarter.

HUL, HDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, M&M, HDFC Bank and ITC declined 1-2 per cent.

The market breadth was weak with only 28 per cent stocks managing to mover higher on the BSE 500 index.

Ambareesh Baliga of Way2Wealth said, "The markets were looking to move up on account of earnings but that has not happened after Infosys and RIL punctured the rally. Earnings show that there is margin pressure coming in despite clear topline gains. 5,900-5,950 is a clear cap for markets though there is not too much downside."

Markets across Asia were trading in the red after the Wall Street saw a dip on Monday. The Nikkei in Japan was trading 1.32 per cent lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korean Kospi were also trading in red.

Overnight, the Dow fell 26 points or 0.2 per cent on mixed earnings.

Paramount Printpackaging’s IPO gets subscribed 0.22 times on second day

Paramount Printpackaging’s proposed initial public offer (IPO) has been subscribed 0.22 times on its second day. The company has fixed the price band at Rs. 32-35 per share for its IPO. The company has proposed an IPO of 1.3 crore equity shares ofRs. 10 each through 100 per cent book building process, to part finance its expansion plans. The issue has opened on April 20, 2011 and will close on April 25, 2011.

As per the NSE-BSE demand graph available on NSE website at 17.00 pm, it has received 2920500 bids against the issue size of 13094175 shares, 1183500 bids have been received at the cut off price.

The book running lead manager to the issue is Onelife Capital Advisors.

The proceeds of the issue will be used by the company for setting up new facilities for manufacturing of high end duplex board cartons, shippers and printed corrugated box in Gujarat as well as augment the company’s long term working capital requirements.

Paramount Printpackaging caters to over 100 clients in various sectors like FMCG, Pharma, Electricals, Auto ancillary and Food. The company at present has the capacity to convert about 500 tons of paper board every month, which in terms of finished products works out to an average of 20 lakh cartons a day. The company offers a packing solutions consisting of a wide range of cartons, which is complemented by print finishes such as stamping, embossing, complex varnishing and security features.

IDBI Bank –Buy- Sharekhan

IDBI Banks Q4FY2011 results came in above our estimates in terms of the profit after tax (PAT), which grew by 62% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs. 516.3 crore. The growth in the profit was driven by a sharp reduction in the provisions and a 51% sequential growth in the non-interest income. However, the growth in the net interest income (NII) was lower than estimated at 46% y-o-y; the NII declined by about 8% sequentially. This was mainly due to the contraction in the margin (down 18 basis points sequentially to 2.1%). The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 1.76% from 2.22% in Q3FY2011 led by aggressive write-offs (Rs449 crore in Q4FY2011).

During Q4FY2011, IDBI Banks advances grew by 16.8% quarter on quarter (q-o-q) while its deposits grew by 20.1% q-o-q. However, on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, the advances and deposits grew by 13.7% and 7.6% respectively as the bank had grown at a slower rate till Q3FY2011.

The NII declined by 8% sequentially to Rs1,109 crore, mainly due to deterioration in the margin. The margin declined by 18 basis points Q-o-q to 2.1% led by an increase in the cost of funds (7.45% compared to 7.1% in Q3FY2011). For FY2011, the banks margin improved to 2.1% from 1.57% in FY2010.

IDBI Banks current account-savings account (CASA) ratio improved to 21% mainly contributed by the end-of-the-period (EOP) deposits. The core CASA ratio has shown an improvement of about 100 basis points on a sequential basis to about 16%.

The banks non-interest income increased by 51% y-o-y, mainly due to a strong growth in the fee income, which increased by 51% q-o-q. Further, the growth in the non-interest income was aided by earnings of Rs. 73 crore from recovery (the written-off accounts) and Rs. 48 crore from treasury profits.

The gross NPAs declined significantly to 1.76% from 2.22% in Q3FY2011 led by aggressive write-offs (Rs 449 crore) during the quarter. However, the slippages remained high (Rs 650 crore compared to Rs690 crore in Q3FY2011) which is a cause for concern. The provision coverage including the written-off accounts declined to 74.7% from 75.6% in Q3FY2011.

We expect a slower business growth ahead due to an increased focus on the qualitative parameters (margins, CASA, asset quality etc). The bank targets to increase its margin to about 2.5%, its CASA ratio to 22% and its return on asset to 1% by FY2013. Though its asset quality deteriorated in FY2011, we expect the same to improve in FY2012. Going forward, the growth in its profits will be driven by an improvement in the margin and a reduction in the NPA provisions. We maintain our target of Rs182 (1x FY2012 book value [BV] for the bank and Rs30 per share for investments) and BUY recommendation on the stock.

Sensex ends 110 points up; Maruti, ONGC, Hindalco gain

Indian markets ended on a positive note but off highs as investors took some profits off the table ahead of truncated week-end. Metals, oil&gas and realty stocks led the upmove while capital goods, power and IT led the losers pack.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended at 19581.67, up 110.69 points or 0.81 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 19695.98 and low of 19530.50 intraday.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 5887.70, up 36.05 points or 0.62 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5912.90 and low of 5866.90 in today's trade.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.10 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index edged 0.03 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Metal Index was up 1.57 per cent, BSE Oil&gas Index gained 1.14 per cent and BSE Realty Index moved 0.60 per cent higher. BSE Capital Goods Index slipped 1.06 per cent and BSE Power Index declined 0.91 per cent.

Maruti (3.80%), ONGC (2.78%), Hindalco (2.66%),HDFC (2.46%) and Sterlite Industries (2.30%) were the major Sensex gainers.

BHEL (-4.73%), TCS (-2.61%), Bharti Airtel (-1.38%),Tata Motors (-0.99%) and Cipla (-0.42%) were amongst the top losers.

Shares of TCS were down on profit booking after it reported better-than-expected quarterly figures. Its standalone net profit grew to Rs 7569.99 crores for the year ended March 2011 against Rs 5618.51 crores a year ago. Net sales grew to Rs 29275.41 crores from Rs 23044.45 crores.

Reliance Industries will be announcing results later in the day. Analysts are expecting the oil&gas major to report robust numbers due to higher gross refining margins. The stock ended at 1.37 per cent higher on the BSE.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1364 gainers against 1510 losers.

Gold breaches 22,000 mark, silver shines at 66,300

Gold crossed the psychological Rs 22,000 mark on Wednesday on aggressive buying by stockists, amid a rising global trend. It rose by Rs 115 to Rs 22,060 per 10 grams. Silver also climbed to a new high and rose by Rs 1,850 to Rs 66,300 per kg on demand from industrial units.

Silver coins followed suit and shot up by Rs 1,500 to a record high of Rs 72,000 for buying and Rs 72,500 for selling of 100 pieces. Trading sentiments remained bullish as gold extended its recordmaking rally to top $1,500 an ounce in global markets as dollar fell on mounting debt in the Europe and the US, prompting investors to seek bullion as a store of value.
In international markets, gold climbed 0.3% to $1,500.43 an ounce and silver jumped 0.9% to a 31-year peak of $44.35 an ounce on Wednesday.

Besides, retail customers and jewellers buying for the coming marriage season further fuelled the uptrend. On the domestic front, gold of 99.9 and 99.5% purity shot up by Rs 115 each to a new high of Rs 22,060 and Rs 21,940 per 10 grams, respectively. Sovereigns also moved up by Rs 100 to fresh peak level of Rs 18,000 per piece of eight grams.

Silver continued its record setting spree and spurted by Rs 1,850 to new peak level of Rs 66,300 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,530 to Rs 65,055 per kg.

Gold breaches 22,000 mark, silver shines at 66,300

With Mukesh Ambani on board, Bank of America wants RBI nod for loans to Reliance Industries

Bank of America is trying to figure out the regulatory barriers in doing business with India's largest private company Reliance Industries (RIL) whose chairman Mukesh Ambani has joined the board of the parent, Bank of America Corporation .

According to Indian regulations, a bank in India is not permitted to lend to any of its directors and companies where directors have board presence.

BankAm India officials have discussed the matter once with the Reserve Bank of India and are likely to seek further clarifications soon. A bank spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.

A few legal and compliance heads of other banks that ET spoke to felt that going strictly by the law, BankAm India should have no problems in taking fund as well as non-fund exposure to RIL or any of Reliance's group companies. "In India, BankAm functions through branch offices, and Mr Ambani has been appointed as a director on the board of the bank's global holding company. So, technically, there is no problem, but RBI has to spell this out," said the legal head of a large local bank.

However, in the past, the Indian banking regulator has often favoured stern interpretations of the law. Under the circumstances, the MNC bank does not want regulatory issues to crop up at a later point.

Foreign banks, including BankAm, have business relationships at different levels with large Indian companies. Besides rupee loans from Indian branches, offshore offices of foreign banks give loans that are considered as external commercial borrowings by a company in India. Also, these banks, through their offices in other jurisdictions, fund cross-border acquisitions by Indian business groups. For some of the MNC banks, derivative transactions with Indian companies constitute a slice of their treasury operations.

A master circular of the Reserve Bank of India gives a list of the dos and don'ts. Apart from loans and guarantees, banks are also restricted from cutting complex derivatives deals with a company having a common director. Except forwards and other plain vanilla currency and money market transactions which are cash-settled, derivatives involving an extended credit period are not allowed.

"It depends on how RBI chooses to interpret the regulations. Currently, foreign banks have advisory boards in India which don't have the status of a statutory board. So, the board of a foreign bank refers to the board of the parent which is beyond RBI's jurisdiction," said a senior official of an European bank. Many foreign banks use their offices outside India to lend to Indian corporates and the central bank's rules on exposure to single company or a group doesn't apply.

In India, BankAm and Merrill Lynch (which BankAm acquired) carry out various businesses: banking through BankAm branches, investment banking and equity broking through DSP Merrill Lynch, and a non-banking finance company through DSP ML Capital . For RIL, which every bank wants as a corporate client, it makes little difference if it can't borrow from the US bank. But BankAm India will not like losing the RIL account to other lenders.

Vodafone-Essar deal: Essar to ask Voda to pay $700 mn more for 33% stake

Vodafone's $5-billion deal to buy out Essar in India's third-largest mobile phone company may run into trouble with the local partner seeking $600-700 million more for its 33% holding.

Essar group, known for its strong-arm negotiation tactics, will invoke a Reserve Bank of India resolution that stipulates a minimum value for Indian shares in privately-held companies, two people familiar with the development said.

The April 2010 RBI resolution, which sought to protect domestic companies from aggressive multinational buyers, mandates that Indian shares in privately-held firms should be valued under the discounted cash flow method. Under this method, Essar's 11% stake in Vodafone Essar is worth $1.8-1.9 billion, compared with the purchase option that pegs it at $1.2 billion.

Vodafone purchased 67% interest in the Indian telco from Hutchison Whampoa and two Indian shareholders Analjit Singh and Ashim Ghosh in 2007 in a $11-billion deal. At that time, Essar and Vodafone agreed that the former could sell its interest in the company to the latter for $5 billion till May 2011.

The agreement was formed in two parts - one a put or sell option for 22% held by the Essar group overseas and the other a call or buy option for Vodafone to buy 11% stake the Essar group held in India.

Essar had the first right to exercise its option, but if it tendered its entire 22%, Vodafone's option would become valid.

The partners had agreed that should only a part of the option be exercised, the value of the stake changing hands would be ascertained by three investment banks, but the amount would be capped at $5 billion if the entire option was exercised.

The options were to expire on May 8, after which both sides would have been forced to negotiate a price, which, industry analysts say, would have been less much than $5 billion. The country's top mobile company, BSE-listed Bharti Airtel, was valued at $33 billion when Vodafone bought a 67% stake in the then Hutchison Essar in February 2007.
Bharti is now valued at around $30 billion, despite adding some 180 million customers since then.

In March, Vodafone said it would purchase Essar's 33% stake for $5 billion as per the agreement. However, the Essar group now plans to argue that since the 11% held in India is being bought by Vodafone it is subject to Reserve Bank regulations.

"We are mindful of the new Reserve Bank of India guidelines and fully expect the current transaction to comply with them," Vodafone group spokesman Simon Gordon said. A spokesperson for Essar declined to comment on the matter citing a confidentiality agreement.

Essar had claimed an additional facilitation fee of $500 million from Hutchison during the latter's negotiations with Vodafone. The group may be able to achieve a similar result with Vodafone too, said an industry analyst.
For Vodafone, much is at stake. It has already locked horns with the Indian tax authorities that claim that the UK-based operator owes the state $2 billion in taxes. The Essar option also will come under similar scrutiny.
"With the Essar group support and the option to set a benchmark, Vodafone's case in the Supreme Court could get a real boost," said an analyst, who asked not to be named.

An Essar official said the amount payable for the domestically-held 11% would be subject to capital gains tax, but not the remaining 22% held in the Mauritius subsidiaries.

Vodafone bought Hutchison's stake through a Cayman Islands company that held shares in a series of Mauritian companies. Given this situation, Vodafone may accept an additional payment to the Essar group as the lesser devil, the analyst said.

economictimes.indiatimes.com

India gains as FIIs divert funds to emerging markets

With global investors shifting focus from developed to emerging markets in the last few days, India has emerged as a major beneficiary.

Since March 22, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought Indian shares worth Rs 12,345.30 crore, according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India. More than half of this, or Rs 6,749.60 crore, has come in just six sessions ended April 7, data compiled by the BS Research Bureau show.

The surge in inflows on March 31, when FIIs invested Rs 3,300 crore, was due to shifting of some funds from derivatives to the cash market on the expiry day, said the head of institutional equities at a domestic brokerage.
The last time such strong inflows came in such a short span was in early November last year, when the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at an all-time high of 21,005.

Not surprisingly, the Sensex, which closed at 19,451.45 on Friday, has gained 9 per cent since March 22.

“For the last few months, investors were exiting emerging markets and deploying money into developed markets. The trend is reversing, with emerging markets becoming relatively cheaper,” said U R Bhat, managing director, Dalton Capital Advisors (India). “Despite oil prices rising, the macro situation in India is looking better, with interest rates peaking and the balance of payment situation likely to be better than expected, on the back of robust export performance,” he said.

Net inflows into emerging market equities were $2.7 billion (Rs 12,150 crore) in the week to April 6, according to Lipper, the fourth-highest since the fund tracker began compiling this data in 1992.

“Following a 20 per cent rally since the announcement of second quantitative easing by the US at the end of August 2010, investors appear to believe that developed market equities reflect the positive outlook and emerging market equities are worth another look,” Clive McDonnell, head of equity strategy at BNP Paribas Securities Asia, said in a note to clients. “An additional factor is the improvement in valuations following the outflow of $25 billion from the emerging market equity universe in the first quarter of 2011,” he added.

Several FIIs have changed their India stance in the last one month. Early this week, JP Morgan’s Adrian Mowat, the Asian and emerging market strategist, upgraded India to overweight, citing lower inflation, normalisation of the yield curve and the progress on various legislation. After March 31, HSBC strategists have changed their India rating from underweight to neutral.

Some other influential foreign firms such as Deutsche, Morgan Stanley and Citi have also been optimistic in their India outlook.

www.business-standard.com

Nifty inches towards 5800; all sectoral indices in green

Bulls have consistently been backing the Indian equity benchmarks since Tuesday of previous week, supported by leading sectors. TheNifty was inching up towards the 5800 level - the Nifty March and April futures were already started trading above that level at 10:45 hours.

Dilip Bhat, Joint MD, Prabhudas Lilladher feels that the market is poised for a breakout. According to him, the Nifty may even touch 6000 to 6200 by June-July. Bhat reasons that the market has already factored in lot of negatives so from hereon any small positive will act as a good trigger for markets to really go up and react very positively.

However, Bhat adds, “I think possibly maybe 5,350-5,400 possibly is the base for the Nifty at the moment.”

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 190 points to 19,311 and the 50-share NSE Nifty jumped 53 points to 5,789. The broader indices too were rallying in line with benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were up 1% each.

Only Bharti Airtel was in the red while rest of 29 stocks out of 30 onSensex gained. Overall market breadth was strong - about 1821 shares advanced as against 516 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

All sectoral indices were in the green. The most beaten down BSE Realty Index gained nearly 2%. Healthcare, Auto, Capital Goods, Metal, IT and Oil & Gas indices went up 1% each. Bank, Power and FMCG indices were up 0.5-0.9%.

TCS, ONGC, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Wipro, L&T, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Infosys were leading the markets.

Ambuja Cements, M&M, Dr Reddys Labs, DLF, Jaiprakash Associates and Cipla were the top gainers.

In midcap space, Kirloskar Oil, IVRCL Assets, Motilal Oswal and Prakash Industries rallied 7-11% while Shree Global, KGN Industries, Sunteck Realty, Rei Agro and Parsvnath fell 2.5-5%.

In smallcap space, Ushdev Intl, R M Mohite, Fame India, Parrys Sugar and Infinite Comp lost 3-5%.

Traders and investors looked bullish on paper stocks after AP Paper Mills deal with International Paper.

US based International Paper is going to acquire 53.5% stake in AP Paper Mills for USD 257 million + 21.5% stake in open offer for USD 104 million. AP Paper Mills was locked at 20% upper circuit.

West Coast Paper, NR Agarwal, Pudumjee Pulp too jumped 20% each. JK Paper, Seshasayee Paper, Emami Paper, Ballarpur Industries and TNPL were up 13-16%. Orient Paper gained 7%.

New Listing - PTC India Financial Services was trading at Rs 24.6, down 12% from issue price of Rs 28 a share.

www.moneycontrol.com

Sensex trades higher; RIL, Infy, ICICI Bank gain

The market was trading higher as strong buying was seen in banks, realty, pharma, metal and FMCG stocks. Reliance, Infosys, ICICI Bank, ITC and HDFC were major contributors to the Sensex, which was up 182.30 points or 1.01% at 18170.60 at 12.53 am, and theNifty was up 54.80 points or 1.01% at 5468.65.

About 1588 shares advanced, 1071 declined, and 714 shares remained unchanged.

Top gainers on the Sensex included ICICI Bank at Rs 1,033 up 2.96%, Cipla at Rs 300.20 up 2.77%, Jaiprakash Associates at Rs 87 up 2.72%, Sterlite Ind at Rs 165 up 2.07% and BHEL at Rs 1,985.30 up 1.96%.

However, Top losers on the Sensex M&M at Rs 647.50 down 0.75%, Jindal Steel at Rs 656.80 down 0.55%, TCS at Rs 1,064.20 down 0.44% and Maruti Suzuki at Rs 1,168.10 down 0.32% and Tata Motors at Rs 1,135.75 down 0.02%.

Hindustan Lever was trading at Rs 270.90 up 1.54% from its previous close of Rs 266.80.

Index heavyweight Reliance was trading at Rs 1,008.85 up 0.94% from its previous close of Rs 999.50.

Tech major Infosys was trading at Rs 2,985.00 up 1.41% from its previous close of Rs 2,943.40.

Cigarette major ITC was trading at Rs 171.70 up 1.15% from its previous close of Rs 169.75.

www.moneycontrol.com

Crude may head to $150-200/bbl in two years: Baer Cap

Rising crude oil prices have created a new challenge for the domestic market, making it more volatile every passing day. Most analysts on the street feel that it will be difficult for India to achieve desired growth unless crude rates simmer down. In an interview with CNBC-TV18's Mitali Mukherjee, Alok Sama, president and founder of Baer Capital said that crude is going to be a key issue for the domestic market to deal with and higher crude prices will create a negative impact on India’s growth.

“Crude may head to USD 150 per barrel or USD 200 per barrel in next two years,” he added.

Talking about India’s performance as an emerging market, he said that India has been an underperformer for past few months as the market has moved towards a bottom end of the trading range, mainly because of mounting crude prices and inflation. “The Nifty can be seen trading between 5000-6000 levels, while the Sensex will amble between levels of 17,000 to 20,000.” However, he also said that India may see solid performance going forward.

www.moneycontrol.com

Banks to get stress test results Friday: report

(Reuters) - U.S. banks will be briefed by regulators as early as Friday on how they performed in government "stress tests," before the results are made public later, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing government officials.


Reuters - The Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange is pictured March 27, 2009. REUTERS/Eric Thayer ...
Some estimates of likely losses that were used in the stress tests were tougher than expected, the newspaper said.

"Under a more adverse scenario, which assumes a 10.3 percent unemployment rate at the end of 2010, banks would have to calculate two-year losses of up to 8.5 percent on their first-lien mortgage portfolios, 11 percent on home-equity lines of credit, 8 percent on commercial and industrial loans, 12 percent on commercial real estate loans, and 20 percent on credit card portfolios," the paper said, citing a confidential document from the Federal Reserve.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said most U.S. banks have enough capital to keep lending, but a pile of bad debts is fostering doubts about their health and slowing a recovery.

An official at the Federal Reserve said last week that results of the tests, designed to see how the nation's 19 largest banks would fare should the U.S. recession prove unexpectedly severe, would be made public on May 4.

The official said regulators will try to prove the rigor of the tests by releasing a document on Friday that explains the underlying assumptions. The document will outline the methodologies employed and serve as a guide on how to interpret the results.

Thanks to http://finance.yahoo.com

Wall Street ends mixed; Dow down 27 points

The US markets reversed early losses led by financials, after Goldman posted strong first quarter profit.

Financial stocks had been among the session's worst performing sectors in the first few minutes of action, falling as much as 2.7% as traders took profits following the strong gains that financials registered late last week. However, buyers provided support by buying the dip in financials.

The market was also buzzing about President Barack Obama's press conference on the economy later today. The president is expected to talk about government's recession-busting actions.

However, earlier in the session, shares of General Motors tumbled 16% as the treasury department instructed the auto maker to prepare for a bankruptcy filing by first June deadline. Also Read - How ADRs performed

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 25.57 points, or 0.3%, to 8,057.81. The S&P 500 Index was up 2.17 points, or 0.3%, to 858.73, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.77 points, or 0.1%, to 1,653.31.

Richard Bove, Financial Strategist, Rochdale Securities said, “The reason numbers are good is because their core business, which is trading did extraordinarily well. You had a whole series of things working in Goldman’s favour. The competition is gone away; all of the firms are no longer in business. Goldman has pricing power because there are so few competitors, or weaker competitors, Goldman has doubled the price of transaction in the first quarter."

In Commodities

Crude prices slipped below USD 50/bbl mark, extending yesterday's 4.2 percent loss, after the international energy agency forecasted that 2009 demand may slump to the lowest level in five years amid the global economic recession.

Copper climbed to the highest in almost six months in London, pacing an advance in industrial metals, as investors sought to catch up on gains made in shanghai and New York.

Futures in China and the US advanced after the Chinese government said it is considering additional stimulus measures to spur economic growth. Government plans to spur growth in the US, Europe, Japan and China helped trigger a 58 percent rally in London prices this year.

Thanks to http://www.moneycontrol.com