Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to open on flat note

Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to open on flat note on the back of mixed momentum seen in the global counters. The crucial support on the downside for the Nifty is 5720 and resistance at 5800.

Results Today:

Jan 14 Godrej Properties Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Hindustan Media Ventures Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd, earnings for quarter and nine months ended December.

Jan 14 Magma Fincorp Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Mapro Industries Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Nectar Lifesciences Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Rei Agro Ltd, earnings for quarter ended December.

Jan 14 Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, earnings for quarter and nine months ended December; to consider a proposal for amalgamation.

Global events to watch

Þ Industrial Production

Þ Consumer Price Index

Þ Consumer Sentiment

Þ Retail Sales

Global indices Update @ 8:

Dow Jones : 11731 (- 23.54)

NASDAQ : 2735 (- 02.04)

Nikkei 225 : 10558 (- 30.83)

Hang seng : 24248 (+09.54)

SGX CNX Nifty : 5753 (- 08.50)

INR / 1 USD : 45.13

Stocks in action for the day: Reliance Industries, Infosys, GVK Power, Guj Pipavav, Aegis, Tata Coffee, SAIL, TTL...

RIL to foray into cement sector Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries will foray into cement sector. The company signed an agreement to invest in a 5-million-tonne cement project that would come up in Kutch district of Gujarat. An MoU was signed during the two-day Vibrant Gujarat summit which also saw the junior Ambani announcing large investments in the cement sector. Sharing the dais with his elder brother during the summit in capital Gandhinagar, Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group chairman on Wednesday committed Rs 500 billion in Gujarat in the power and infrastructure sectors over the next 5-7 years. Anil Ambani also announced plans to locate the cement projects in Kutch, Porbandar and Junagadh. Kutch has one of the largest reserves of limestone, basic raw material for cement.

PNB restructures insurance, MF joint ventures Punjab National Bank restructured its insurance and mutual fund joint ventures by buying out its partners` stake from the insurance venture and selling its entire stake in the mutual fund joint venture, the bank said in a release on Thursday. PNB bought its partners`-Principal Financial Group Mauritius (PFG) and U K Paints--stake of 26 percent and 32 percent, respectively, from the insurance joint venture, Principal PNB Life Insurance Company. ``After taking over the stake from PFG and others, PNB`s holding in Insurance Broking Company is now 81% and in Principal PNB Life Insurance Company is 88%,`` PNB release stated.

Infosys Finacle Q3 sales up 66%at USD.8 mn Finacle, the banking product division of Infosys Technologies, recorded 66% jump in turnover to USD.8 million (about Rs 3.65 billion) for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010. ``The topline (during the quarter) grew by 66% on annual basis while on sequential basis it was 28.8%,`` said Haragopal M, global head, Finacle. The company`s topline during the second quarter of the current fiscal was USD 63.5 million. Or the nine months ended December 2010, the division has clocked a turnover of USD 209.5 million, against USD 142 million in the same period last fiscal, up 47%. ``Our nine-month topline is USD 1.5 million higher than what we achieved in the entire (fiscal) 2009-10,`` he said.

GVK Power to develop 7kcr LNG terminal at Jamnagar GVK Power and Infrastructure has inked an agreement with the state government for developing a new terminal for importing gas at Okhamadhi in Jamnagar district of the state. Gujarat already has two LNG terminals at Dahej (operated by Petronet LNG) and Hazira (owned by Shell India and Total of France). GVK will be investing 70billion to develop the LNG terminal along with a private coal terminal and Maritime city at Okhamadhi. Company`s vice-president GV Sanjay Reddy signed an agreement with the Gujarat government on the second day of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors`summit that saw over 1 lakh crore of agreements been signed for investments into the port sector of the state.

GAIL to buy LNG from Qatar to meet rising energy demand State gas utility GAIL India has signed contracts to buy two cargoes of LNG from RasGas of Qatar to meet rising energy demand this winter season. Sources in know of the development said GAIL has contracted at least two cargoes from Qatar for January delivery. This year the winter has been severe across the country, resulting in added power loads. Gas based power plants are not only running to full capacity but even beyond, to meet the growing demand. As a consequence, requirement of natural gas has seen a sudden upsurge in the country. Given the huge appetite for natural gas in the industry and GAIL`s infrastructure, the company is poised to meet the huge requirement of gas, the sources said.

TTL to invest Rs 5 bn for expansion of 3G roll out in Gujarat Tata Teleservices (TTL) has signed an agreement with the Gujarat government to invest Rs 5 billion for expanding its 3G roll out in the state. The MoU was inked between Additional Chief Secretary, Science and Technology Department Ravi Saxena and Regional Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Business, TTL Pradeep Dwivedi, during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit-2011. ``Powered by superior technology and robust network, Tata Teleservices will now further expand and develop the telecom infrastructure in Gujarat,`` Regional Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Business, TTL Pradeep Dwivedi said. ``The investment will also help the company expand its enterprise business wing in Gujarat,`` he said.

Gujarat Pipavav to invest Rs 17 bn in expansion Gujarat Pipavav Port said on Thursday it has signed a pact with the government of Gujarat for expansion of its port felicities in Pipavav, at an investment of Rs 17 billion. The company has also signed an agreement with Swan Energy to provide port services to the latter for their proposed LNG import terminal at Pipavav, it said in a statement to the exchange.

Britannia forays into breakfast food category Britannia Industries, the maker of `Tiger` biscuits, has entered the breakfast food segment with the launch of `Britannia Healthy Start`, a range of ready-to-cook breakfast mixes in upmas, pohas, porridges and oats, among others. This move has put Britannia in the league of ITC Foods, Nestle and MTR Foods, which have significant national presence in this segment. ``Our research showed that Indian consumers were desirous of a breakfast solution that combines convenience, health and taste. The Britannia Healthy Start range is made with natural ingredients that give all of this in five minutes. These products also contain no transfats, no cholesterol and no preservatives,`` Vinita Bali, managing director of Britannia Industries, said.

Birla Corp signs MoU for Rs 4.5 bn cement unit in Assam Birla Corporation on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Assam Mineral Development Corporation, a state government undertaking, to set up a 1 million tonne greenfield cement plant in Assam. The flagship company of the M P Birla Group said in a statement that the project would cost Rs 4.5 billion. The company will have 87.55% equity in the new joint venture company and the balance 12.5% would be allotted free of cost to the AMDC as per the tender conditions. The project would enjoy the statutory incentives for setting up industry in the backward region in the North-East. BCL won for the project through open bidding from among 23 companies. The company said it has a production capacity of more than 7 million tonne of cement currently, which is poised to go up to 9.3 million tones by 2011.

SAIL Q3 (Disappointing numbers, revenue, profits lower than expected) (YoY) -Revenues up 14.5% at Rs 11312 crore versus Rs 9878 crore (up 4.7% QoQ ) (expectation Rs 11378 crore) -PAT down 34% at 1107 crore versus Rs 1675 crore (up 1.6% QoQ) (expectation Rs 1468 crore) -OPM at 15.9% versus 26.1% (versus 15.7% QoQ ) (expectation at 19.4% )

Tata Coffee signs MoU with Starbucks for strategic alliance in India (Could be sentiment negative for Jubiliant Foodworks) Tata Coffee says -To jointly explore development of Starbucks retail stores -MoU for sourcing, roasting beans in company's India facility -Sourcing agreement is non-exclusive -Have signed non-binding agreement for Starbucks' India entry -Agreement with Starbucks a pure alliance, not a JV -No regulatory issues for JV with Starbucks -Starbucks has to take a call on contours of possible JV -Starbucks a great brand; welcome entry into India -Will look at investing in new facilities with Starbucks -Expect first Starbucks store to roll out in 6 months -Decision on retail operations to be taken by Starbucks

Jet Airways: Naresh Goyal says -Will launch QIP soon; waiting for govt clearance -Domestic air traffic growth to be 15% in next 5 years -International air traffic to be 15-20% in next 5 years -Jet Airways says in pact with Godrej Properties to develop Mumbai BKC Plot -To develop sell 750,000 sq feet of Mumbai BKC plot

Ved Jain says: CNBC TV18 exclusive -Only IL&FS chose to invest in Maytas Properties-28 companies were approached by SBI Capital Markets -Our estimate of liabilities was Rs 1,700 crore plus -19 companies refused to come forward; did not find value -9 companies carried due diligence; 7 did not find Maytas attractive -Govt's role only through me to oversee Maytas Properties'

Govt says -Closely monitoring inflation -To review export-import of commodities regularly -To impose curbs on export of goods if needed -To reduce import duty goods when needed -Farm output hike only lasting solution to check food price -Committed to contain adverse impact of inflation -NAFED, NCCF to sell onions at Rs 35/kg -1,000 tonne onion import contracted so far -Secretary panel to review inflation situation in states -To take stringent action against hoarding -Cartelisation by traders to be strictly dealt with -Suitable help to be given for bumper kharif crop storage -To ask states to exempt horticulture products from APMC Act -Ministerial panel to monitor primary articles inflation -Chief economic advisor to head panel to monitor inflation -Urge states to mull waiving mandi tax,octroi, local levies

BF Investments and Kalyani Investment list today post scheme of arrangements

L&T delivered its first four fry shielded canisters for Transnuclear- an USA based power operator firm. (ET)

IL&FS will hold a stake of 80% of the total equity in Maytas Properties (ET)

Hindustan Motors to half its share capital to Rs 80.58 crore which will reduce in its accumulated losses (BS)

Union Bank of India in meeting with investors to raise 125 million swiss francs in its first sale of debt (BS)

Binani Cement set to invest Rs 4200 crore in Gujarat & setup a Greenfield cement plant of 2.5mtpa (BL)

BPCL set to process 22% more crude oil in the fiscal year beginning from April 1 (BL)

MRPL buys spot crude from Brunei to avoid petroleum product supply disruption (BL)

PNB enters factoring business, enters in a Joint venture by picking up 30% stake in IFFSL (BL)

United Spirits set to acquire sovereign distilleries in a Rs 230 crore deal (TOI)

Government may limit FDI in pharma sector at 49% (TOI)

IOC entered in agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation to setup power plants across the country (HT)

HDIL may prepay debt with Andheri land deal money, has to repay debt of Rs 500 crore till fiscal 2012 of the total debt of Rs 4102 crore (DNA)

Sezal Glass signs as MOU with Government of Gujarat - planned investment of 750 crore to set up float glass manufacturing facility

Nitesh Estate has acquired 51% stake in a SPV - Nitesh Urban Developers

Gujarat Pipavav signed MOU with Gujarat govt to expand port facilities involving an investment of Rs 1700 crore in stages

Aegis Logistics signed MOU with APM Terminals, Pipavav