BOR: Market Outlook: Indian markets are likely to open on flat-to-negative in line with Asian peers.

Market Outlook: Indian markets are likely to open on flat-to-negative in line with Asian peers. This week would be very important for the Indian stock market ahead of domestic events – Union Budget and the F&O expiry. Nifty has supports at 4780 -4800 and resistances are at 4930-4950.

Global Events to watch for today

• ICSC-Goldman Store Sales
• Consumer Confidence
• State Street Investor Confidence Index
• Bill Auction

Global indices Update @ 8:

Dow Jones : 10383 (- 18.97)

NASDAQ : 2242 (- 01.84)

Nikkei 225 : 10285 (- 114.4)

Hang seng : 20154 (- 223.0)

SGX CNX Nifty : 4830 (- 21.00)

INR / 1 USD : 46.16

On the global counter: Wall Street ends with moderate loss & Asia trading lower; Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng down. Wall Street ended slightly lower as investors held back ahead of congressional testimony by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. The S&P 500's 50-day moving average provided support. The line acted as a floor for trade during the entire session. In key events to watch out for today US federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke is scheduled to testify before house and senate committees later today and tomorrow about monetary policy. Last week the Fed announced a surprise increase in the rate it charges banks for emergency loans.

Stocks in action for the day: Fame, Shyam, IOC, Max India,

Inox’s Fame stake buy violates takeover norms: Reliance Media: Shares of multiplex operator Fame India surged 5% to a 52-week high after an Anil Ambani Group company made a hostile bid and then, complained to the market regulator against the promoters of the companies involved in the deal.

Sistema Shyam to finalise listing plans soon: Sistema Shyam Teleservices, a joint venture company between Russia’s Sistema and India’s Shyam Group, is planning to enter the market with an initial public offer (IPO), and hopes to firm up plans in the next 6-9 months, according to Vsevolod Rozanov, president & CEO of Sistema Shyam. Sistema is a majority shareholder in this joint venture with 73.71% equity stake and the Shyam group holding a 23.79% stake. The balance 2.5% stake is held by other investors.

IOC stares at Rs 12K-cr subsidy bill, seeks govt help: Indian oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest oil refiner, is hoping the government will come out with a mechanism, in addition to the proposed fuel price hike, to help the company cope with mounting losses that it incurred by selling fuel at subsidised prices.

Max India gets nod for Goldman investment: The government on Monday cleared a proposal by the Analjit Singh-promoted Max India to raise Rs 529 crore from the private equity arm of global investment bank Goldman Sachs through issuing convertible debentures

Wockhardt lenders offer new debt recast plan: Overseas lenders, led by US-based hedge fund QVT, have proposed an alternative debt restructuring plan whereby they intend to buy a significant minority stake in cash-strapped Indian drugmaker Wockhardt.

L&T Infotech plans to enter BPO business: Software exporter L&T Infotech, which has been lagging its larger rivals in growth rates and profitability, wants to add BPO capability to its portfolio of offerings so it can provide customers with the full range of services starting from application development and testing to back-office processing. The company has appointed one of the big four consulting firms to advise on its BPO strategy. L&T Infotech is a fully-owned subsidiary of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro.

Tata Steel Orissa plant equipment head for Kalinganagar Tata Steel, which is setting up a six million tone per annum integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar, the emerging steel hub of Orissa in Jajpur district, expects the arrival of equipment and machinery worth Rs 5 billion for the project by the end of 2009-10. It may be noted that the steelmaker has already placed orders worth Rs 63.73 billion for equipments and civil structures for its Kalinganagar project. Till date, 11 consignments of equipment and machinery including blast furnace, sinter plant, electricals and Steel Melting Shop (SMS) worth Rs 2 billion for Tata Steel`s Kalinganagar project have arrived in India.

Apollo to make Chennai its R&D hub at Rs 20 bn Apollo Tyres is all set to make Chennai its hub for both manufacturing and research and development (R&D). The country`s leading tyre manufacturer is setting up a Rs 20 billion manufacturing facility, in which, it says, another Rs 6 billion is likely to be pumped in. ``Over the next three years, the Chennai plant, which will commence production next month, will contribute Rs 35 billion to Apollo Tyres` revenues,`` Satish Sharma, chief - India operations, Apollo Tyres told. He added that last year`s revenues were Rs 40 billion, expected to increase to Rs 50 billion in the next financial year. ``Three plants - one in Gujarat and two in Kerala - contributed to the revenues.``

HCL Tech in 5-year IT Infra mgmt pact with Electrolux

Cadila Health to consider bonus issue on Feb 25; stk up

Aurobindo gets USFDA ok for generic antibacterial Bactrim

MIC Electronics bags Parramatta League Club order; stk up

Sterlite Technologies up on bagging Rs 800cr order