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

Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to open on flat note and trade in the range of 5670-5775. Asian markets trading firm; Hang Seng, Nikkei gain. Market is still not out of the woods and trying to consolidated before taking fresh moves. Overall market mood is still down but the set-up is such that an up move is a possible with any good newsflow. The support for the Nifty is at 5670 and resistance at 5800-5836.

Global events to watch

Þ Housing Starts

Þ MBA Purchase Applications

Global indices Update @ 8:

Dow Jones : 11837 (+50.55)

NASDAQ : 2765 (+10.55)

Nikkei 225 : 10538 (+19.95)

Hang seng : 24293 (+139.4)

SGX CNX Nifty : 5727 (- 10.00)

INR / 1 USD : 45.53

Stocks in action for the day: Petronet, Realty cos, Ashok Leyland, Opto Circuits, Indiabulls Real Estate

Manmohan to reshuffle Cabinet on today: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will reshuffle his Cabinet on Wednesday at 5 PM. Singh is likely to include more young faces in the Cabinet and remove the non-performers. However, major portfolios like Finance, Home, Defence and External Affairs may not be disturbed.

Realty cos may not switch to IFRS project completion method: Real Estate Companies may not be required to switch their accounting practice to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) recommended, project completion method effective from April 1. Reports that the realty companies were unprepared to switch to the IFRS. Most realty companies book revenues after 20-25% of project completion. The final call on this issue will be taken by Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Two more Sahara Group cos under RBI scanner: Two of the country's regulators -- SEBI and RBI -- are helpless with respect to the fund raising done by the Sahara Group. Barely 10 days after SEBI cautioned investors against debt being raised by two Sahara group entities, two more companies from the same group have come under the RBI scanner. Only 3 Sahara group companies are registered with RBI -- Sahara India Financial Corp, Sahara India Corp Investments and Sahara India Infrastructural Development. Of these, only SIFC once had RBI permission to accept deposits from the public.

Petronet Q3 profit jumps 2.05 times on strong revenue: Petronet LNG reported a surge of 2.05 times in the net profit for the quarter ended December 2010 led by strong revenue growth. During the quarter, the profit of the company rose to Rs 1,708.44 million from Rs 832.14 million in the same quarter previous year. Meanwhile, total income for the quarter jumped 60.66% to Rs 36,330.51 million, when compared with the prior year period.

Micromax gets SEBI nod for IPO: Market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given nod to homegrown mobile handset maker Micromax to sell 10% stake through an initial public offer. The company will be offering 21.50 million shares and it may consider a discount of 10% on the initial public issue (IPO) price for retail investors. The firm is raising funds for establishment of a new handset manufacturing plant, enhancement of the Micromax brand and investment in acquisitions and other strategic initiatives, and for general corporate purposes. JM Financial, Citigroup, Edelweiss and Nomura are helping the company in the fund raising process. The company at present exports handsets to countries viz. Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Middle East countries. It is eyeing revenue of Rs 25 billion this fiscal, as it expands its operations globally and strengthens its product portfolio.

Ashok Leyland has bagged fresh orders from VRL Logistics of 262 vehicles comprising 200 numbers of car carriers on the U-3518, 12 nos. of the U-4923 and 50 nos. of 12-meter buses.

Reliance Communications has drawn down $ 255 million around Rs. 1155 crore by way of external commercial borrowing to part refinance resources for 3G spectrum fee payment to the department of telecommunications.

GAIL reported standalone net profit of Rs 967.63 crores for the quarter ended December against Rs 859.95 crores in the same quarter a year ago. Net sales rose to Rs 8364.99 crore for quarter compared to Rs 6187.84 crores in the same quarter a year ago

Opto Circuits posted net profit of Rs 56.22 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 35.63 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Total Income increased to Rs 164.71 crore from Rs 110.57 crore from a year ago.

Jindal Saw has bagged worth Rs 700 crores orders for supply of large Diameter pipes for export markets in Far East.

Exide Industries’ standalone net profit for quarter ended December 2010 stood at Rs 124.42 crores against Rs 130.48 crores in the same quarter a year ago. Net sales jumped to Rs 1049.13 crores against Rs 912.57 crores a year ago.

Indiabulls Real Estate posted net profit of Rs 19.52 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2010 as compared to Rs 4.87 crore in the same quarter previous a year ago. Total Income increased to Rs 54.96 crores from Rs 23.35 crores.

Tulip Telecom has acquired data center facility in Bengaluru by acquiring 100 per cent shares of SADA IT Parks at a value of Rs 230 crore. This facility will be owned and operatred through a wholly owned subsidiary of Tulip.