The markets are expected to witness a positive opening, this trading session, on back of positive global cues. The Singapore Nifty futures is at 5,134, up 36 points.
Overnight, the US markets closed higher for a fourth consecutive day as bank stocks led the market higher following a coordinated effort by five central banks to help ward off a credit crisis in Europe. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.6%, to 11,433. The S&P 500 added 1.7%, to 1,209. The Nasdaq ticked up 1.3%, to 2,607.
The Asian markets are trading higher with the Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng and Nikkei indices, up nearly 1-2%.
On Thursday, the Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers of Rs 137 crore in cash and the Domestic Institutional Investors were net buyers of Rs 4 crore.
Markets are expected to, further, react to RBI's decision to go for another rate hike to tame price pressures in order to boost growth in its monetary review, due today. The chances of RBI hiking the rates by 25 bps increased after August's data revealed that inflation rose to a 13-month high. "A pause (if at all it materialises) will be accepted by markets gleefully. What the RBI says in its policy statement will be crucial. The short-term sentiment will be driven by the outcome of the RBI meet and overseas events," says Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL - India Private Clients.
Meanwhile, after market hours the government hiked petrol prices by Rs 3 per litre. D K Aggarwal, Chairman Managing Director, SMC Investments and Advisors Limited said, "The recent petrol price hike can help OMCs such as BPCL, HPCL and IOC in recovering the under-recoveries. As per the OMCs, the recent rupee depreciation is resulting into heavy under-recovery to an extent of INR 9,000 Crores for every one rupee depreciation. This petrol price hike can also help ONGC in its FPO, which is scheduled to open on 20th September".
Oil marketing stocks, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are likely to be in the limelight today. Apart from these, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Mahindra Satyam are other stocks to watch out for.
