BOR: Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to consolidate and remain sideways in the absence of any fresh triggers.

Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to consolidate and remain sideways in the absence of any fresh triggers. But a positive start is likely given the positive global cues. Nifty has support at 5180-5200 and resistances are at 5310-5350. On stock specific we like Himadri Chem, Jindal Saw & Bajaj Hindusthan for fresh buying position.

Global events to watch for today:
• 10-Yr Note Settlement
• 30-Yr Bond Settlement
• Consumer Price Index
• Empire State Mfg Survey
• Industrial Production
• Consumer Sentiment

Global indices Update @ 8:

Dow Jones : 10710 (+29.93)
Nasdaq : 2316 (+08.00)
Nikkei 225 : 10889 (+18.36)
Hang seng : 21664 (+52.86)
SGX CNX Nifty : 5267 (+05.00)
INR / 1 USD : 45.48

On the global counter: Wall Street ends higher; Crude below $ 80/bll while Asia trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted up, Hang Seng down. The US markets closed with moderate gains in Thursday's trade in spite of a weak labour and retail report. Bank stocks gained after President Obama announced a tax that would amount to 90 billion dollars over 10 years against banks that received federal bailout funds. Health care emerged as the strongest among the S&P sectors and utilities the weakest. In key economic data- the latest initial jobless claims increased 11,000 from the previous week to 444,000. But continuing claims dropped larger than expected to 4.60 million. In other data, advance retail sales for December decreased 0.3%, which was weaker than the 0.5% increase that had been expected.

Stocks in action for the day: Wipro, Welspun Gujarat, Essar, Ansal Properties.

IPO Update: Jubilant FoodWorks sets IPO price band at Rs 135-145/sh: Jubilant FoodWorks, runs Dominos operations in India, has set the issue price for its initial public offering (IPO) of 22,670,447 equity shares at Rs 135-145 per share The issue will open for subscription during January 18-20, 2010. The company is going to raise upto Rs 329 crore through this issue. Currently, the promoters Jubilant Enpro Private Limited and Weston Investment hold 58.23% and 8.13% stake in the company, respectively. The selling shareholders like the India Private Equity Fund (Mauritius) and Indocean Pizza Holding Limited hold 20.17% and 11.20%, respectively. Dominos operates around 274 stores in India and about 5 outlets in Sri Lanka. The company’s net sales for FY09 were at about Rs 280 crore and the profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 6.74 crore. They have already opened some 33 stores this fiscal year. The book running lead manager to the issue is Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd and Link Intime India Pvt Ltd is the registrar.

Wipro to float $1bn sponsored ADR offering: Wipro Limited, India’s third-largest software exporter, is set to launch a sponsored American Depository Receipts (ADR) offering that could possibly see the promoters and promoter group led by Azim Premji offloading some of their stake in the company.

Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren looking to buy MSK Projects refuses to die despite the latter denying it. Grapevine has it that discussion between Welspun and MSK for the deal is in the final stage and will be announced soon. It is also speculated that MSK promoters are likely to offload their stake at Rs 140 a piece, followed by an open offer to buy another 20% from minority shareholders.

Mid-cap cement stocks back in demand: INVESTORS took a fancy to midcap cement stocks on Thursday on talk that cement prices were likely to firm up soon. Stocks like Binani Cement, Andhra Cement, Saurashtra Cement, Dalmia Cement, Shree Cement and Prism Cement were among the prominent gainers, rising between 3-6 %.
Satyam Computer basks in IT glory: SHARES of Satyam Computer are seeing a renewed burst of activity. Probably, strong quarterly numbers from Infosys Technologies could have raised expectations from other leading IT services companies as well. On Thursday, a US-based investor is said to have bought close to 30 lakh shares. Some of the bull operators too are said to be steadily building up long positions at the counter.

Essar to transfer 2.63% in Vodafone to foreign investment co: Essar Group is indirectly transferring part of its Indian holding in Vodafone Essar to its overseas investment company, using the provisions of the relaxed foreign investment norms issued last year. The deal will result in the effective transfer of around 2.63% economic interest in Vodafone Essar, India’s third-largest mobile service provider in terms of subscriber numbers.

Ansals to buy out education biz arm, post demerger: Promoters of Delhi-based Ansal Properties and Infrastructure (API) are going to buy out the public-listed company’s education business subsidiary Knowledge Tree Infrastructure (KTIL) after hiving it off into a separate entity, said a person with direct knowledge of the development.

Buy ‘number portability’ for Rs 50: The lobby against number portability may be fighting a losing battle. A widget from China priced as low as Rs 50 is making the government’s dithering on it for four years meaningless and may erode profitability of companies such as Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, which are already hit by relentless tariff war.