The stock market is likely to open lower to flat today, tracking the pale Asian and flat US markets.
Weakness in global indices may weigh on the sentiment. Action today is likely to be stock-specific. However, the mood of the market is expected to remain negative after yesterday's loss and moving down FII inflows in domestic equities may help the local indices decline further. Among the key indices, the Nifty is likely target 4450 in near term and on breaching this level it is likely to target 4500, while the index has a key support at 4375. The Sensex has a likely support at 14500 and may face resistance at 14750.
On Wednesday the US markets manage a modest gain as investors scooped up shares battered in the previous session's selloff and sorted through Lehman Brothers' steep quarterly loss and restructuring plans. While Dow Jones gained 38 points at 11269 and the Nasdaq raise about 19 points at 2229.
Majority of the Indian floats ended in the green. Rediff was the biggest gainer and gain over 5.09% followed by ICICI Bank which was up 3.08%. Patni Computer, Infosys, Satyam, HDFC Bank, MTNL and VSNL were up 2-0.50% each. However, Dr Reddy moved down over 1.74% and Wipro lost over 0.18%.
Crude oil prices slipped marginally, with the Nymex light crude oil for September delivery slipped 68 cents to close at $102.58 a barrel. In the commodity segment, the Comex gold for December series moved down by $29.50 to settle at $762.50 an ounce.
Daily trend of FIIs / MF investment in equities
On September 09, 2008, FIIs were net sellers of stocks to the tune of Rs186 crore (purchases worth Rs2,023 crore and sales of Rs2,209 crore) while domestic mutual funds were net buyers of stocks to the tune of Rs493 crore.
