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The markets are likely to open in the positive this morning, taking cues from global bourses. Investors would be looking at a slew of macro economic data including IIP and inflation numbers, which is set to come out this week.
The US equity markets closed higher on Friday, driven by payrolls report that was much stronger than expected. The Dow added 50 points to 14,447. Nasdaq however ended up eight points.
In Asia this morning Nikkei gained in opening deals. However, Shanghai Composite was down marginally at 2310 after China’s annual industrial output growth eased to 9.9 percent in the first two months from a year ago, below market forecasts. At 7:00 am IST the SGX Nifty was up 22 points at 5,972.
In individual shares, watch out for TCS. The company’s operating margin is set to slip 25 bps on the back of a one time lawsuit settlement of around 160 crore.
Also watch out for steel shares as the steel and mines department has pulled up the steel and pellet projects proposed in the state for non submission of financial and physical progress report.
A stern directive from the department has asked 36 companies individually to furnish the progress reports at the earliest.
Viacom, the US media conglomerate that has a 50:50 joint venture with the Raghav Bahl-promoted TV18 Group in India, might buy a 50 per cent stake in ETV’s regional general entertainment channels.
This may bring TV18 Networks in focus.
Watch out for ONGC as a consortium led by the company will do a feasibility study on setting up a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at the New Mangalore Port.
