T20 - March 17th 2010

Global Markets
1. S&P500 raises after Fed pledges to keep rates low: Federal Reserve's mildly upbeat take on the economy and its plans to hold interest rates low gave stocks a lift S&P charts
2. US bill to pressure China on currency: 14 U.S. senators unveiled legislation seeking to increase pressure on China to let its currency to rise Vs dollar as the "currency manipulation" is hurting the U.S. economy
3. Dollar falters after Fed maintains it’s “Exceptionally Low” interest rates for “Extended Period” Dollex chart

Economy
4. Feb ‘10 WPI Inflation at 9.89% v/s 8.58%: Despite this Govt doesn't see the need for a rate hike; Finmin says enough room before policy announcement late April 2010
5. IIP numbers reiterated that India’s growth story remains intact: Industrial output rose 16.7% in Jan 2010 as against the upwardly revised 17.6% record growth in Dec 2009
6. World comes to the Indian stock exchange: NSE announced that it would soon approach the regulators for permission to launch futures contracts on S&P 500 index, one of world's most-watched indices
7. IMF upbeat about India’s growth: IMF forecasts India's economic growth to accelerate to 8.0% in 2010-11 from 6.75% in 2009-10. That compares with the government's forecast for growth in 2010-11 of 8.5%

Indian Markets
8. Nifty breaks out finally breaks-free after an elongated flattish movement Nifty chart
9. FIIs and DIIs have different perspectives: FIIs were net buyers this week pumping over Rs. 4000 Cr into the market, DIIs remained net sellers by pulling out Rs. 1845.5 Cr
10. Bond prices cautious ahead of announcement of Govt. borrowing calendar in next fiscal: Yield on the 10-year benchmark Govt. bond ended at the day's low of 7.99%, from Friday's closing of 8.01%
11. Fitch Ratings launches money market fund (MMF) ratings for Indian Money market funds: Following the global launch on Jan 20, 2010; MMF rating scale has now been adopted for Indian Money market funds
12. Advance tax grows 3.63% in Q4, falls below expectation: Advance tax collection signals healthy growth; 2200 cos pay higher amounts for Q4 than last fiscal

Sectors
13. India’s 3G auction begins – top 3 bidders get spectrum in 17 circles: Govt. has fixed April 9, 2010 as the auction date for the 3G spectrum whereas the auction for BWA spectrum, including WiMax will take place 2 days after the 3G auction
14. Cement dispatches come down: Growth in dispatches of the commodity has come down to 7.78% in Feb 2010 compared with around the 10% pace maintained for many months
15. Infrastructure gets a push: Govt. is considering nine highway projects for taking up as 'Mega Projects'. The length of these projects varies from 390 to 700 km

Stocks
16. Reliance breaks the jinx, pulls out Nifty from the tight trading range Reliance chart
17. Infrastructure firm Hindustan Construction Co. (HCC) would buy a controlling stake in Swiss developer Karl Steiner AG HCC chart
18. Morgan Stanley Downgrades Hindustan Unilever to Underweight HUL chart

Quotes
19. I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years - Warren Buffett
20. Buy on the cannons, sell on the trumpets. - Old French Proverb