Market opens higher; Nifty above 5200

The markets have opened with smart gains mirrior global peers. Nifty breached 5200 mark. The BSE bankex, realty, power, IT stocks witnessing buying interest.

At 9.56 am, the Sensex is up 302 points at 17590, and the Nifty is up 85 points at 5259.

ICICI Bank, Satyam, DLF, Unitech, Tata Motors are among major gainers.

Fertiliser stocks like Chambal Fertilisers and Nagarjuna Fertilisers are trading with over 3% gain.

Asian Markets:

Asian markets were trading higher. Japan's Nikkei was up 1.80% or 247.54 points at 14,014.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 2.15% or 554.65 points at 26,310. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted advanced .072% or 64.42 points at 8,984.34. Singapore's Straits Times rose 2.43% or 76.34 points at 3,224.13.South Korea's Seoul Composite gained 1.11% or 20.33 points at 1,845.80.

US Markets:

Fed's 25 basis point cut doesn't keep Wall Street jittery for too long. Stocks on yesterday rise to the highest level since January after a rally in dollar and strong technology earnings. The Dow gained 189.87 points, or 1.48%, to 13,010. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 23.75 points, or 1.71%, to 1,409.34. The Nasdaq composite index surged 67.91 points, or 2.81%, to 2,480.71.

Market cues:

* Inflation data to be released today
* DJ poll indicates inflation at 7.42% for week ended April 19
* FIIs net buy $85.6 mn in equity on Apr 29
* MFs net buy Rs 381.5 cr in equity on Apr 29
* NSE F&O Open Int up by Rs 2318 crore at Rs 63175 crore

Auto firms may see action

Maruti Suzuki India has recorded a 22.4% growth in domestic sales in April 2008 compared with April 2007. The company's exports grew 64.5 per cent during the month compared with the year-ago period. In April Maruti Suzuki sold 59,539 units in the domestic market compared with 48,652 units in April 2007.

Bajaj Auto reported a 23.60% growth in motorcycle sales during April 2008 at 2,03,081 units against 1,64,304 units in the same month last year. The company's total two-wheeler sales also rose 23.08% during the month at 2,03,930 units as compared to 1,65,692 units in April last year,

Hero Honda Motors reported a 9.03% jump in motorcycle sales during April 2008 at 2,86,252 units against 2,62,544 units in the same month last year.

Reliance Communications is reportedly looking to bid for South African telecom major MTN. Reliance Communications is talking to leading global banks to raise resources and be ready, in case MTN's management decides to invite bids, the reports added.

MindTree Consulting is reportedly set to acquire mid-tier outsourcing product development (OPD) and testing player, Aztecsoft, for around Rs 400 crore. The deal is expected to be concluded in a couple of days, the reports added.

Jet Airways will hike the cost of full-fare flights by 10% from 3 May 2008. On discounted fares it has announced an increase in the fuel surcharge. For travelling on routes upto 750 kilometers (KM) would mean shelling out to the tune of Rs 150-1950; for routes beyond 750 KM the hike will be between Rs 350-2350.

Essar Steel Holdings (ESHL), a part of Essar Global, on Thursday, 1 May 2008 agreed to acquire Esmark of the US at an estimated enterprise value of $1.1 billion (Rs. 4,500 crore).

Idea Cellular will reportedly invest an additional $400 million (Rs 1,600 crore) for rolling out telecom services in four new circles - Mumbai, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. The service provider will start operations in Mumbai and Bihar circles in the July-September 2008 quarter, and in Tamil Nadu and Orissa by the October-December 2008 quarter.

DLF reported a net profit of Rs 638.55 crore on a sales of Rs 1613.32 crore in Q4 March 2008.

Videocon Industries reported 8.6% rise in net profit to Rs 251.22 crore on a 16.8% increase in sales to Rs 2514.91 crore in Q2 March 2008 over Q2 March 2007.

Great Offshore reported 41.6% jump in net profit to Rs 42.39 crore on a 23.9% rise in sales to Rs 184.98 crore in Q4 March 2008 over Q4March 2007

State Bank of India, Great Eastern Shipping, Jyoti Structures, Nestle, NOCIL, Pratibha Industries, and United Phosphorous, among others will declare their March 2008 ended results today.

Market to extend gains; inflation data eyed

The market which has witnessed a solid surge over the past few days is set to extend the rally on positive cues from global equities and with latest batch of corporate results coming in strong. Data showing top auto firms reporting strong sales in April 2008 may also lift sentiment. On Wednesday, 30 April 2008, Reliance Communications and HDFC reported strong Q4 March 2008 results. The results were announced during trading hours on that day.

US stocks rose on Thursday, 1 May 2008, as a rebound in the dollar and retreating oil prices calmed fears about inflation, renewing investors' appetite for riskier assets, including undervalued technology shares. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 189.87 points, or 1.48 percent, to 13,010.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index surged 23.75 points, or 1.71 percent, to 1,409.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 67.91 points, or 2.81 percent, to 2,480.71.

All these three major indexes closed at the highest level since the first half of January 2008 as equities extended a rally started in mid-March 2008 on optimism that credit markets and the economy have begun to stabilize.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.4% to 2.3%.

Earlier, the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, 30 April 2008, cut Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points to 2% and hinted at a pause in its recent campaign to lower borrowing costs.

Reliance Power puts IPO money in MFs

Reliance Power Ltd, which raised Rs 11,562 crore in its IPO in January last, has temporarily parked almost the entire money in mutual funds. The 2007-08 financial results declared by the company on Monday show that Rs 11,412.81 crore is invested in mutual funds. The company has not disclosed either the funds or the schemes where the money has been invested.

The IPO offer document says that the company “intends to invest the funds from the issue in interest bearing liquid instruments including deposits with banks and investments in mutual funds. These investments may include investments in mutual funds managed or financial products sold by one of our affiliates, RCL (Reliance Capital)”

The company has spent only Rs 25.83 crore as of March 31, 2008 in construction and development of its various projects.

The temporary parking of the IPO money in mutual funds has helped the company report a net profit of Rs 94.6 crore for 2007-08. Total income for year stands at Rs 132.8 crore, of which dividend income is Rs 112.7 crore.

The company has also informed that from March 31, Coastal Andhra Power Ltd, Reliance Coal Resources Pvt Ltd, Sasan Power Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Sasan Power Infraventures Pvt Ltd, Maharashtra Energy Generation Infrastructure Ltd and Coastal Andhra Power Infrastructure Ltd have been incorporated as wholly owned subsidiaries.

On the BSE, the scrip was traded at Rs 403.25, an increase of 0.27 per cent over the previous closing of Rs 402.15, reports The Hindu Business Line.

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