A little better

The human tendency to regard little things as important has produced very many great things.

- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.

A little better morning is in store after the main Indian stock indices snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday.  Global cues are pretty good and this could bring some gains at least early on in today’s session.

Asian markets are mostly higher. US equity benchmarks closed up as well, spurred by encouraging technology results. Positive data on the housing sector also buoyed the sentiment on Wall Street. US housing starts jumped in June to the highest level in four years.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the central bank’s resolve to breathe more life into the US economy if things get worse. He also doesn’t expect a double-dip recession.

However, the Fed Beige Book survey says the US economy slowed in June and early July. Overall US growth remains 'modest to moderate’. The bad news is that Brent crude is hovering around US$105.

Pranab Mukherjee is all set to win the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan as UPA has the numbers on its side. Markets are more interested in what the Government would do on the policy front after the Presidential polls.

ADR/GDR
	Latest (US$)	Price % chg	% Prem/Disc
Dr. Reddys	30.8	(2.0)	2.0
HDFC Bk	34.3	0.1	8.0
ICICI Bk	34.6	2.2	2.2
ITC	4.6	(0.8)	0.2
Infosys	39.8	1.5	1.4
Ranbaxy	8.9	0.0	0.8
Reliance	26.2	1.4	1.5
Wipro	8.2	0.6	25.2
SBI	83.6	(0.2)	6.1
Tata Motors	20.4	0.4	2.2
Sterlite	7.6	1.3	1.8
L&T	25.5	2.9	0.9

Indian market		% change
	Last close	1 day	3 mth	YTD
Sensex	17,185	0.5	(1.8)	11.2
Nifty	5,216	0.4	(2.2)	12.8
BSE 100	2,119	0.4	(2.7)	14.5
BSE 200	6,634	0.4	(2.9)	14.8
CNX Midcap	7,356	(0.5)	(4.4)	20.3
BSE Smallcap	6,658	0.3	(4.0)	20.0
Developed market		% change
	Last close	1 day	3 mth	YTD
Dow Jones	12,909	0.8	(0.4)	5.7
Nasdaq	2,943	1.1	(2.2)	13.0
S&P 500	1,373	0.7	(0.3)	9.2
FTSE	5,686	1.0	(1.0)	2.0
CAC	3,235	1.8	1.9	2.4
DAX	6,684	1.6	0.2	13.3
Hang Seng*	19,567	1.7	(6.8)	6.1
Nikkei*	8,790	0.7	(8.3)	4.0
S&P/ASX200*	4,173	1.2	(4.3)	2.9
* Markets are open
Emerging market		% change
	Last close	1 day	3 mth	YTD
Shanghai Comp	2,173	0.2	(8.6)	(1.2)
Brazil Bovespa	54,583	1.2	(12.8)	(3.8)
Mexico Bolsa	40,747	(1.3)	3.4	9.9
Kospi*	1,822	1.5	(8.9)	(0.2)
Micex	1,426	(0.3)	(4.7)	1.7
Taiwan*	7,121	1.0	(6.6)	0.7
Straits*	3,033	0.5	0.8	14.6
* Markets are open
Institutional activity
(Rs cr)	Cash	F&O	MTD	YTD
FIIs	571	(528)	8,436	42,194
MFs	-	-	(1,936)	(7,995)
FIIs Prov.	276
MFs Prov.	(166)
Commodities		% change
	Last close	1 day	3 mth	YTD
Crude (US$/bbl)	90.1	0.3	(11.9)	(8.8)
Gold (US$/oz)	1,579	0.3	(3.9)	1.0
Copper (US$/mt)	7,637	0.6	(6.2)	0.6
Aluminium (US$/mt)	1,883	0.3	(6.7)	(5.6)
Zinc (US$/mt)	1,862	0.2	(5.9)	1.9
Advance/Decline stocks
(Nos)	A	B	S	Total
Adv	126	1,031	246	1
Dec	73	1,065	235	1
Unch	3	119	30	0
A/D ratio (x)*	1.7	1.0	1.0	1.0
*A/D excluding Unch
Trade value
(Rs cr)			% chg
Cash NSE	8,857		5.1
Cash BSE	2,242		31.5
Total Cash	11,098		9.5
Delivery (%)	43.7		-
Derivatives	114,457		5.6
Currency		% change
	Last close	1 day	3 mth	YTD
Rs/US$	55.50	0.7	(6.7)	(4.4)
Rs/EUR	67.89	0.3	(0.2)	1.2
US$/GBP	1.57	0.1	(2.4)	0.8
US$/EUR	1.23	0.1	(6.4)	(5.1)
Yen/US$	78.59	(0.3)	3.8	(2.1)
Bond market
	Last Close (%)		Bps chg
10yr Gsec	8.07		(0.03)
Call rate	8.10		0.00