Pre Open Market Commentary

Indian market is likely to open on a positive note on the backdrop of marginal recovery in Asian markets. Friday, markets closed in red territory amid volatile trade. As a result, BSE sensex closed at 12,430.40 down by 113.45 points and Nifty was down by 35.05 points to close at 3608.55.The outlook for the market is cautious.

Friday, US markets closed with negative bias, as reading on inflation deflated hopes the Federal Bank will start moving towards an interest rate cut. The major indices incurred modest losses during the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) dropped 49.27 points to close at 12,110.41. The S&P 500 (SPX) index fell by 5.33 points to close at 1,386.95, and the NASDAQ Composite (RIXF) declined by 6.04 points to close at 2,372.66. Major Indian ADRs closed in red. In technology sector, Infosys down by 1.20%, Satyam dropped by 0.95% and Wipro fell by 0.70%. Banking sector, ICICI Bank closed lower by 2.38% and HDFC bank lost 1.07%. MTNL closed up 0.32% and VSNL dropped by 0.43%.

Asian stocks nudged higher on Monday with the markets shrugging of a hike in interest rate by China''s central bank on Saturday 17 March 2007. China''s main share index opened down more than 2 percent, but soon regained its poise to trade in positive territory. It was up 1.6%. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.38% to 0.83%.