Expect Indian markets to be on positive surface !!!

US Fed meet, global cues to dictate market trend

Investors are expected to maintain a 'wait-and-watch' stance as the US Federal Reserve meeting next Tuesday, the trend in crude oil prices and global cues will decide the trend on the bourses, as all factors on the domestic front are put to rest.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet next Tuesday; but despite the dollar's recent strength, the market is pricing in little chance of a quarter-point rate hike. Currently, Fed Fund futures show a 6.3 percent probability of a hike to 2.25 percent - a significant drop from the nearly 25 percent odds measured only a month ago.

If people believe that things are going to worsen both on the crude and the global front over the next few days, then at higher levels some people will open up shorts once again. But since we are still in the 4,150-4,500 zone, short-term traders will try and trade both ends of it, depending on the cues that is coming from global markets and from crude.

August kick started on a buoyant note for Indian equities, which brushed aside weak global cues, as prospects of the Indo-US nuclear being operationalised took centre stage after the UN nuclear watchdog endorsed that India met all safeguard standards.

Meanwhile, the Indian bourses have yet another reason to smile. Deputy Finance Minister Paw an Kumar Bansal said that the coalition government has the support to push through three major reforms in the banking, insurance and pension sectors in the next parliamentary session, which is likely to begin on August 11.