Daily Strategy

The markets resemble a runaway train since Monday. Some getting in, some getting off. After all it is better to get off comfortably at your destination rather than being thrown out for ticketless travel (read leveraged play). With the railway budget set to be a populist one, the bulls will hope that they manage to chug ahead. Expectations are that the railway minister many announce reduction in certain passenger fares and freight rates.The global cues will lend support at start. The outlook for today is a good opening led by some follow on buying. Depending on the budget announcements, certain sectors and stocks will have a field day. Profit booking at higher levels could always set in as the near term outlook remains a worry. Get in and get out as per your risk profile. Monday’s start brought in hopes of a long awaited pre-budget rally. How long that lasts, remains to be seen.A mix of surging costs and a steel shortage could bring steel stocks in limelight unless the railway minister decides to spoil sentiment. Globally, further hikes are expected in steel.Watch out for action in tea counters too. The FIIs turned to net buyers of Rs1.78bn in Index Future and by Rs4.75bn in index options. In Single Stock Futures they were net buyers at Rs53.4mn. In the Cash segment, FIIs were net buyers by Rs7.83bn and DIIs were net sellers of Rs3.16bn.US stocks gained after S&P reiterated its top rating for Ambac Financial. Dow Jones added 1.5%. Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index was up 1.4%. Nasdaq added 1%.Asian stocks rose to their three week highs following cues from Wall Street. Nikkei climbed 0.5 percent to 13,983.51. Citigroup slipped 1.5% after Goldman Sachs cut its earnings outlook. Goldman also cut its forecasts on a number of other big banks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded the companies to "sell" saying it expects them to announce big writedowns. US light crude oil for April delivery rose 44 cents to settle at $99.23 a barrel on the New York Mercantile ExchangeONGC has announced four new oil and gas discoveries, three onland and one offshore. HDFC Bank, Centurion Bank of Punjab approved a swap ratio of 1:29 for merger and may look at an overseas buy. .HDFC Bank is likely to issue preference shares to promoter HDFC to enable the mortgage company to retain its shareholding above 20% post-merger. Swedish truck and bus maker Scania has firmed up plans to manufacture trucks in India alone as L&T has reportedly backed out. PNB has cut its PLR by 50 basis points to 12.5%. Ashok Leyland is planning to double investment in Uttaranchal from Rs10bn to Rs20bn as a part of its expansion plan, according to a report.
Hindustan Electro Graphites expects to achieve a capacity of 58,000 tons by FY09 and ~64,000 tons by FY10. Bhushan Steel has entered into two JV with Australian firm Bowen Energy for exploration of coal mines.Gitanjali Group plans to hive off its five businesses and eventually list them on the bourses. Essar Shipping has approved raising of US$1bn through issue of securities
Jubilant Organosys has bagged new contracts worth US$92mn for its proprietary products and exclusive synthesis segment for 2008.
Crompton Greaves has announced a tie-up with Dutch firm Lemnis Lighting for launching LED lighting products.