Above 4501 level, expect short covering up to 4527-4529 zone and thereafter expect a jump up to 4553-4555 zone by non-stop.
Support at 4470-4472 zone. Below this zone, selling may continue up to 4463 level and thereafter slide may continue up to 4444-4446 zone by non-stop.
Below 4417-4419 zone, expect panic up to 4391-4393 zone by non-stop.
Short-Term Investors:
Bullish Trend. 3 closes above 3906 level, it can zoom up to 4600 level by non-stop.
Higher opening expected. Recovery should start.
Short-Term Investors:
Short-Term trend is Bullish and target at around 15379 level on upper side.
Maintain a Stop Loss at 13220 level for your long positions too.
POSITIONAL BUY:
Buy MPHASIS (NSE Cash)
Uptrend to continue.
If crosses & sustains at above 438 level then uptrend may continue.
Keep a Stop Loss at 412 level for your long positions too.
Buy UNION BANK (NSE Cash)
Uptrend to continue.
Mild sell-off up to 254 level can be used to buy. If uptrend continues, then it may continue up to 260 level for time being.
Keep a Stop Loss at 248 level for your long positions too.
This is list of 10 strong futures:
Nifty is in Up Trend.
| FII trading activity on NSE and BSE in Capital Market Segment(In Rs. Crores) | ||||
| Category | Date | Buy Value | Sell Value | Net Value |
| FII | 21-Jul-2009 | 2392.5 | 2643.36 | -250.86 |
| DII trading activity on NSE and BSE in Capital Market Segment(In Rs. Crores) | ||||
| Category | Date | Buy Value | Sell Value | Net Value |
| DII | 21-Jul-2009 | 1216.88 | 1224.32 | -7.44 |
 | 4469.10 | ( -0.74 %) | -33.15 |  |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Resistance | 4516.53 | 4563.97 | 4603.93 | |
| Support | 4429.13 | 4389.17 | 4341.73 | |
 | 15062.49 | ( -0.85 %) | -128.52 | | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Resistance | 15212.51 | 15362.52 | 15490.84 | ||
| Support | 14934.18 | 14805.86 | 14655.85 | ||
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 8,915.94. Up by 67.79 points.
The Broader S&P 500 closed at 954.58. Up by 3.45 points.
The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 1,916.20. Up by 6.91 points.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 48.42/43 per dollar on yesterday, weaker than 48.21/22 at close on Monday.
Interesting findings on web:
Dow Logs 7th Straight Gain.
It was the Nasdaq's 10th straight gain — its longest streak in 12 years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index rallied to close in positive territory as a solid profit from Caterpillar eclipsed unease about the company's outlook for the current quarter, while both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 clung to tiny gains.
In early trading, investors were encouraged by another round of strong profit reports from major bellwethers that included drug maker Merck & Co, but that optimism was met with a dose of reality when heavy equipment maker Caterpillar said it expected a "challenging" third quarter.
Shares in Caterpillar closed up 7.72 per cent at $39.48 gave the biggest boost to the Dow, but were off the day's high following cautious comments.
U.S. stocks rose, extending the Dow Jones Industrial Average's longest rally in two years as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said there are signs the economy is stabilizing. Treasuries climbed the most in two weeks and the dollar gained.
Cautious comments on the economic outlook by Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, also weighed on stocks. The Fed Chairman, delivering his twice-yearly testimony to the US Congress, said that American unemployment was set to remain high into the year after next. This could sap fragile consumer confidence and undermine what was likely in any case to be a fragile and anaemic recovery, he warned.
Bernanke found himself defending the Fed's ability to act as the broad overseer of financial regulation, in the first stop of his semiannual two-day tour of Congress. The central bank chief also argued that an exit strategy is in place for the Fed to dial back the various facilities it created, when the crisis was at its deepest, to pump liquidity into the U.S. financial system and has sustained in an effort to restart economic growth.
Even while describing exit strategies, Bernanke noted that the Fed expects to keep its benchmark federal funds rate at its historically low levels of 0.25% or lower for an extended period of time. Traders in the fixed-income market were scooping up longer-dated Treasury bonds during Bernanke's question-and-answer session with lawmakers, sending the yield on the 10-year note down to 3.49%, from 3.61% Monday.
Results from DuPont, the chemical maker and Merck & Co, the drug company, came in ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Coca-Cola Co (KO) fell $0.68. The company in with second quarter results, $0.92 in earnings, down from $1.10 last year. The company also had a shortfall in revenues and it sees third quarter income dropping 12 to 14 percent from last year.
Another Dow stock, United Technologies (UTX) off $1. Second quarter earnings fell to $1.05 from $1.32 last year, but that was a penny better than expected, but revenues were down 17 percent.
Merck (MRK) still another Dow stock, off $1 -- up $1.71. Second quarter earnings, $0.83, down from $0.86 last year, but that was $0.06 better than the Street was expecting and the company's upbeat about its upcoming merger with Schering-Plough.
And then Dupont Co (DD) a penny loss. The company had second quarter earnings excluding items of $0.61. That was $0.08 above the Street estimate.
Monsanto (MON) had a good day, up $3.52. The company received U.S. and Canadian approval for its Smartstax corn seed technology and that could put it on the market by as early as next year.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) up $1.17. Second quarter earnings fell to $1.38 from $2.25 and that was due largely to lower copper prices in the period, but the Wall Street estimate wasn't $1.38. It was for only $0.72, hence the stock higher.
China today launched an unprecedented plan to offer hefty subsidies to independent solar power projects and that had the whole sector strong. LDT, LDK Solar Co (LDK) I should say, Suntech Power (STP), Trina Solar ltd (TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (YGE) all doing well, better than $1 gains.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list and actually closed down $1.40, but after those spectacular third quarter earnings, the stock went to $158 a share in after hours.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.44 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.30 rise there.
Google (GOOG) fell $2.27.
Intel (INTC) showed no change on the day.
Human Genome (HGSI) up another $1.33 after jumping over $9 or 270 percent yesterday on news the company's lupus treatment is effective. Today UBS financial issued a "buy" and the Bernstein research has a $17 a share target.
Finally, Yahoo! ( YHOO - news - people ) posted a second-quarter profit of 10 cents a share. This marks the first quarterly earnings increase since the beginning of 2008. Tougher cost controls imposed by its recently hired chief executive Carol Bartz seemed to help offset further erosion in its advertisingsale.
Banks stumbled after Regions Financial Corp., Comerica Inc. and Zions Bancorp posted second-quarter losses that stirred worries about rising loan defaults, a persistent concern for banks as unemployment approaches 10 percent.
Technology shares could drive trading on Wednesday. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. slid in after-hours trading after posting a wider-than-expected loss after the bell.
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris bank in Chicago, said: "This is the most solid evidence that we have seen that conditions are improving."
After the close, the focus turned to the technology sector, with traders awaiting earnings from Yahoo! ( YHOO - news - people ) and Apple ( AAPL - news - people ). Shares of Yahoo! lost 1.5% during the day; Apple trimmed its decline in the final hour to finish unchanged.
While earnings have faltered at other electronics companies, unexpectedly strong sales of Macintosh computers and a surge in iPhone purchases pushed Apple's profit up 15 percent in the third quarter, the company said Tuesday.
"We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," Steven P. Jobs, the chief executive, said in a statement.
Apple recorded its best nonholiday quarter ever when other electronics makers were hurting because of a downturn in consumer spending. According to various estimates, PC shipments for the industry fell 3 to 5 percent over the last three months. But Apple said it sold 2.6 million Macs in the quarter, up about 18 percent from the 2.2 million it sold in the previous quarter, which ended March 28.
Apple said Mac sales were helped in June by updates to its line of MacBook Pro laptops, which got new features like longer battery life and a price reduction of $300, or 25 percent, from the previously least expensive Pro model. Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, said the company saw an "acceleration of sales" after the introduction, which he said had led to some inventory shortages.
About half of Mac buyers in Apple's own retail stores had never owned a Mac before, said Mr. Cook.
Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers, said that Macintosh computers were "resonating with increasing number of customers, as it is arguably the best platform for what people do today, which includes Web surfing and creating and managing content."
Apple also benefited from the June introduction of a new smartphone, the iPhone 3GS. Apple sold 5.2 million phones in the quarter, up from 3.79 million in the April quarter. The 3GS includes new features like the ability to record video, send picture messages and dial with voice commands. Apple previously said it sold more than one million 3GS handsets in the first three days of the product's availability.
Apple also lowered the price of the old iPhone 3G to $99 in an effort to increase its market share in the expanding market for smartphones, although the company would not say how well it was selling.
The company's overall gross profit margin grew to 36.3 percent, from 34.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.
In the only dark spot for the company, sales of the iPod dropped to 10.2 million, from 11 million a year ago, a decline of 7 percent. Analysts said the slump reflected a saturation of the market for MP3 music players as well as the migration of people to phones that play music.
Mr. Cook noted that the company had predicted and planned for the decline, and that sales of the iPod Touch — which looks similar to the iPhone and can also access applications from the company's online iTunes store — had jumped 130 percent over the last year.
Mr. Cook took the opportunity of a conference call with media and Wall Street analysts to again criticize the low-cost, pared-down computers known as netbooks, which had provided one of the few bright spots in the computer industry. He said that many netbook buyers became disappointed and that the devices were "very slow, they have software technology that is old, they don't have a robust computing experience, they lack horsepower, they have small displays and cramped keyboards."
Though analysts wonder whether Apple could introduce its own low-cost computer — or at least some kind of economical tablet reading device — Mr. Cook said Apple would only deliver a product "that is very innovative and that is something we are very proud of."
Apple reported that its net income grew to $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, up from $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the quarter a year ago.
Revenue rose to $8.34 billion, from $7.46 billion last year. That exceeded even some of the optimistic expectations of analysts, who projected Apple to announce revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.16 a share, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.
Apple shares were up almost $7 in after-hours trading, after closing at $151.51 in the regular session Tuesday. Wall Street is impressed with Apple's growing traction with affluent urban and suburban consumers unaffected by the recession. Analysts are also increasingly confident in how the company will fare without Mr. Jobs, who had a liver transplant in the spring but has recently returned to work.
Mr. Jobs was not present on the earnings call with analysts, as some had hoped.
The last six months "have been a resounding endorsement" of Apple's management team, led by Mr. Cook, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray.
"This basically shows that in six months of running the company, Tim Cook has basically pulled it off in a terrible economy."
Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook stood by his previous assertion that Apple's not in the market to make a netbook when pressed repeatedly by analysts during Tuesday's conference call to discuss Apple's third-quarter results. At the same time, he noted that Apple's recent laptop price cuts have helped move inventory.
With everyone from HP to Asus manufacturing mini-notebook computers--known as netbooks--many industry pundits and analysts expect that it's only a matter of time before Apple competes in this segment of the market. Cook doesn't see it happening any time soon, however--a statement he's made before during past quarterly analyst calls.
"Our goal is not to build the most computers, it's to build the best," Cook told an analyst with RBC Capital--a pithy comment he's used before when asked about Apple selling netbooks or low-priced computers. "At this point, we don't see the way to build a great product for this $399, $499, this kind of price point unit."
Pressed by a Morgan Stanley analyst for more details on a possible Apple netbook or iPhone-based tablet computer, Cook said, "I never want to discount anything in the future, and never want to specifically discuss new products."
But Cook said that customers who buy such hardware are often disappointed with their purchases, and that Apple is focused on products with the best value.
"We're only going to play in things where we can deliver things that are very innovative that we're proud of," said Cook.
And Cook and Apple have reason to be happy with the company's laptop business. Apple sold 1.75 million notebooks during the quarter, up 13 percent from the 1.553 million it sold last year during the same quarter. The strong laptop sales were boosted in part by an overhaul of the company's laptop lineup at WWDC in June that included price drops.
Cook conceded that the average selling price (ASP) of Macs did fall somewhat in the quarter, but added that, "now you can buy a MacBook Pro for $800 less than last year," and that customers are happy with that strategy and pricing.
Overall, consumer sales were strong, and Cook said that compared to projections from market research firms, Apple was "7 to 9 points ahead of the market," and thrilled with those numbers.
Internet search engine Yahoo has seen revenues in the quarter to 30 June fall 13%, citing the challenging economic environment.
Revenues for the three-month period dropped to $1.57bn (£953m) from $1.79bn in the same period a year earlier.
Meanwhile profit for the quarter edged up to $141m from $131.
Yahoo shares fell 4% in after-hours trade after saying income this quarter would range between $55m to $65m, from $76m in the second quarter.
Ross Sandler, an analyst with RBC Markets said: "Everybody expected conservative guidance. It's more conservative than even most people had expected. There aren't great estimates out there."
Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz said "We established a clear, simple vision to be the centre of people's lives online, and we're backing that vision with important initiatives to create 'wow' experiences for our users".
Yahoo earned $141.4m, or 10 cents per share, in the quarter ending in June, up $131.2m, or 9 cents per share, in the same period in 2008.
The results come as the firm unveils its redesigned front page, to make it easier to users to access content.
The move is aimed at boosting its position as the main portal to the web. Deal?
Laxmi Poruri, an analyst with Primary Global Research, was more upbeat: "The revenue was a little bit under what people wanted but earnings per share was better than expected."
"This is definitely a sign that they're trying to be more efficient. What's really holding (the stock) up is an imminent deal that people are expecting with Microsoft."
Last year a tie-up between the firms collapsed after Microsoft's $47.5bn takeover bid for Yahoo collapsed.
And Yahoo's attempt to form an alliance with Google came to nothing following regulatory examination.
But in recent days, there has been renewed speculation that a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is imminent.
Investor Carl Icahn, who holds around 5% of Yahoo, recently voiced his backing for such a deal.
What to expect today?
WEDNESDAY: Weekly mortgage applications; weekly crude inventories; Earnings from Boeing, Glaxo, Morgan Stanley, Pepsi, Pfizer, Wells Fargo, Bank of NY Mellon; Delta; KeyCorp; SunTrust, US Bancorp, Qualcomm, eBay and Sandisk.
Asia:
Tokyo stocks edged up Wednesday but gains were limited as investors remained cautious ahead of a series of corporate earnings reports and an August general election. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 15.67 points, or 0.16 per cent, in morning trading to 9,667.69 after the index surged more than 2 per cent the previous day.
Japanese property developer shares slumped amid concern the economy won't stage a quick recovery, offsetting gains by makers of semiconductor materials after Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. said it is seeking to boost prices.
Tokyo Tatemono Co. lost 2.8 percent after the property developer's president told the Nikkei on July 20 he doesn't expect a sharp economic rebound in Japan.
Hong Kong stocks rose on Wednesday morning, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index opening 59 points higher at 19,560.
The Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, which tracks the overall performance of 43 mainland Chinese state-owned enterprises on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, opened 92 points higher at 11,684.
China Life Insurance<601628><2628><LFC> rose 1.05% from the previous closing to HK$33.75. Ping An Insurance<601318><2318> climbed 0.53% and opened at HK$66.5.
On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 93.50-55 yen, down from Tuesday's 5 pm quote of 94.07-10 yen.
The euro was quoted at 1.4197-4202 dollars, down from late Tuesday's quote of 1.4212-15 dollars, and at 132.80-85 yen, down from 133.72-76 yen.
Ford Motor Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!f/quotes/nls/f (F 6.18, -0.02, -0.32%) chalked up a 14% on-year rise in vehicle sales in China from the same period last year, according to the state-run China Daily. Total sales for the six months were 197,212 units, the report said. Changan Ford Mazda -- a tie-up with Chongqing Changan Auto Co. and Mazda Motor Corp. /quotes/comstock/!7261 (JP:7261 240.00, +8.00, +3.45%) /quotes/comstock/11i!mzdaf (MZDAF 2.15, -0.25, -10.42%) sold 140,386 cars in the first six months, up 20% from a year earlier, it said.
September Nymex crude oil futures were down 71 cents at $64.90 per barrel on Globex, after a surprise gain in U.S. crude inventories in API data late Tuesday.
Spot gold was at $946.95 per troy ounce, down $2.05 from the New York close.
China State Construction Engineering Corp plans to raise as much as 50.2 billion yuan ($7.35 billion) in the world's biggest initial public offering since March 2008.
China's largest housing contractor will sell as many as 12 billion shares at 3.96 yuan to 4.18 yuan each, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The sale of a 40-percent stake values China Construction at as much as 125.5 billion yuan.
China Construction's IPO is almost 28 times larger than the second-biggest sale on the Chinese mainland this year, testing a rally that's pushed the benchmark Shanghai Composite 80 percent higher since Dec 31. The company, led by Chairman Sun Wenjie, plans to use proceeds to expand in residential construction, as a surge in bank lending drives a pickup in the housing market.
"The market won't have any problem holding up the China Construction sale," Yu Yang, a strategist at Guotai Junan Securities Co, said before the filing. "There's so much money around after the relatively loose monetary policy."
The IPO values China Construction at as much as 51.3 times 2008 profit, the company said.
China Construction's profit fell 44 percent in 2008 to 4.92 billion yuan because of the slowing property market, rising raw material prices and higher tax payments. The company and its advisors are predicting a recovery this year, as the government's 4-trillion yuan stimulus package begins to revive the world's third-largest economy.
For China's securities regulator, which began approving IPOs last month after halting sales in September last year following a stock market rout, China Construction will provide a test of investors' ability to digest new equity.
China Construction's offering is the biggest in China since PetroChina Co raised 66.8 billion yuan in October 2007. Worldwide, it is the largest IPO since Visa Inc collected more than $19 billion in March last year.
On concern that new share sales will draw liquidity away from existing equities and this year's rally has outpaced prospects for earnings growth, China stocks fell the most in more than five weeks.
The Shanghai Composite Index yesterday lost 53.71, or 1.6 percent, to 3213.21 points.
The company owns about 34.3 million sq m of land reserves and plans to use them to expand in real estate development, according to its prospectus. China Construction plans to use as much as 8 billion yuan of the IPO proceeds for 24 commercial housing projects requiring a total investment of 15.8 billion yuan.
China's investors opened the most accounts to trade stocks in 18 months, lured by the world's second-best performing benchmark index and a rebound in the nation's economic growth.
Investors opened 484,799 new stock accounts last week, the most since the five days ended Jan. 25, 2008, data from the nation's clearing house showed today.
"The prospect of making quick bucks in the stock market is luring retail investors," Liu Xiangning, a Shenzhen-based strategist at United Securities Co., said by telephone.
The Shanghai Composite Index has rallied 78 percent this year as banks tripled new loans to 7.37 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) in the first half from a year earlier and the government implemented a stimulus package. Gross domestic product grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter, the statistics bureau said July 16, as the nation became the first of the major economies to rebound from the global recession.
China will sustain growth because it can cut interest rates or trim income taxes to spur consumer spending, Invesco Asia Ltd. fund manager Samantha Ho said in an interview yesterday in New York. Ho manages $3 billion in Chinese equities.
INVESTMENT VIEW
Electrosteel Casting-BUY
Private miners like Electrosteel Castings which have opened iron ore, thermal and metallurgical grade coal mines in Orissa and Jharkhand will be key beneficiaries of lowered raw material costs. The Q1 results show an extra-ordinary performance.
Thermal Coal-Structurally Improving
Imports by the Indian State Electricity Board continue to increase as local coal production cannot keep pace with demand. The first of the ultra mega power plant projects using imported coal is ahead of construction schedule. Plant capacity will be 4GW due on-stream in 2012-13, requiring 11-12Mtpy of Indonesian coal.
Demand. The markets for high moisture low calorific value coal are mainly in India and China. If import demand in these regions does not expand as expected, Indonesian coal will struggle to find growth markets elsewhere.
Investment Flows Are Back
Investors in commodity markets are back with a bang. Actually, investments proved extremely robust through the downturn and are now increasing once more.
A number of characteristics of commodity markets have attracted renewed investor interest:
A switch to hard assets. Commodities are defensive in an environment of systemic risk in finance markets.
The reflation trade. Although deflation remains the central concern of markets, there is an increasing view that inflation may be the inevitable consequence of the massive fiscal stimulus measure, and that the inflation threat may not be that far into the future.
One line of statistical support is the explosive growth in money supply, often a lead indicator of inflation.
A weakening USD. Investment in bullion increased strongly in recent months despite relative USD strength. The main consideration here has been risk of competitive exchange rate devaluation and a broad based loss of confidence in all paper based currencies rather than USD strength per see.
Now however it would appear that more traditional drivers are asserting themselves, and increased investment into a wider range of commodities is being attracted by a weakening USD. There is a strong trend relation between base metal prices and the USD, although it occasionally breaks down in the short term.
Trough cycle prices. In early 2009 prices for most commodities declined to our trough cycle targets, implying that fundamental price support from costs and margins would prevent further sustained downward pressure on prices.
This at a time when there was persisting downside risk in other asset classes.
Improving global economic and demand outlook. The second derivative of global growth is improving signaling improving prospects for positive demand growth.
Evidence
Investment flows into commodity index products have turned strongly positive. This largely reflects investments by long only funds.
(Some forward looking statements on projections, estimates, expectations & outlook are included to enable a better comprehension of the Company prospects. Actual results may, however, differ materially from those stated on account of factors such as changes in government regulations, tax regimes, economic developments within India and the countries within which the Company conducts its business, exchange rate and interest rate movements, impact of competing products and their pricing, product demand and supply constraints.)
Arvind Parekh
+ 91 98432 32381
