All eye on RBI’s mid-quarter review of monetary policy due today...

Market Outlook: Indian markets are expected to open trade with a positive note tracing global cues while investors all eye on RBI’s mid-quarter review of monetary policy due today. Most say that it is likely to be a pause now and a CRR cut later in March meet. The RBI meanwhile came down on forex speculation with a heavy hand. It has restricted forex open positions of banks, and also restricted companies and FIIs from punting on the rupee even as the currency broke past 54 per dollar.



December Advance tax number indicates slowdown effects as collections from the top 100 companies have gone up nearly 10% despite large companies - Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra - witnessing a fall in third installment.



Advance tax numbers

Infosys pays Rs 754 crore vs Rs 620 crore

Sesa Goa pays Rs 140 crore

YES Bank pays Rs 160 crore Vs Rs 120 crore

ONGC pays Rs 2,924 crore Vs Rs 2,742 crore



Global Markets The US markets eked out their first positive day of the week as traders shifted their focus from Europe's problems and onto some positive US economic news. Major averages finished the day modestly positive after surging by as much as 1% earlier while Asian markets trading firm; Nikkei, Hang Seng up.



Global events to watch: In key data to watch out in the US today, consumer price index is expected to rise to 0.1% in November after seeing a 0.1% contraction in October.



Global indices Update @ 8:



Dow Jones : 11868` (+45.33)

NASDAQ : 2541 (+01.70)

Nikkei 225 : 8401 (+24.56)

Hang Seng : 18080 (+53.69)

SGX CNX Nifty : 4777 (+12.00)

Gold (USD/t oz.) : 1584

Nymex Crude (F) : 93.90

INR / 1 USD : 54.23



TECHOUTLOOK : Support for Nifty is at 4690 resistance at 4780.



Call for the day:



Buy Ambuja cement SL 149 Target 162.



Stocks in action for the day: Rel Capital, Adani Enter, Ambuja Cements.



RBI finally wakes up to check Indian Rupee?-RBI reduces net open position limits for dealers in forex market.



Reliance Industries may have invoked arbitration against the Indian government, but it has at the same time also sought the oil secretary's intervention to resolve pending issues which the company says is coming in the way of increasing gas production at KG-D6..



Major moves in the media business… Reliance Capital is said to be in talks with Bloomberg UTV to buy a majority stake in the company. Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters may buy 20-25% stake in Newswire 18 for around Rs 250 crore.



HMT submits Rs 981 crore revival plan to govt -HMT seeks Rs 320 crore for capex -HMT seeks Rs 135 crore for clearance of old liabilities -HMT seeks Rs 22 crore for 2 years as bridge loan -HMT seeks Rs 365 crore for paying off old Rs 135 crore for waiver on interest rate -HMT has also asked for 1997 or 2007 pay revision -HMT seeks retirement age to be at 60 instead of 58 -HMT to hike tractor production from 10,000 units to 30,000 in 5 years



JSW Steel may slash FY12 capex by half: JSW Steel Ltd proposes to reduce its capital expenditure by over half for the current fiscal and go slow with its capacity expansion.



Drop in RIL's D6 gas output due to fewer wells drilled: The sharp drop in gas output from the Krishna-Godavari basin D6 block gas fields operated by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is due to the operator having drilled lesser number of wells than what was planned.



Falling Rupee Forces Consumer Durable Cos to Raise Prices Again : consumers will pay more for mobiles, TVs and home appliances as the rising value of the US dollar has made imports costlier and forced consumer durable makers to raise prices for the second time in three months.



Adani Enterprises, the flagship of the Adani Group, will invest over $4 billion to develop and mine coal blocks awarded to its various joint ventures with state electricity boards.


The government expects a shortfall of over Rs 2,00,000 crore for power projects being constructed in the coming five years.



The Reserve Bank of India has unleashed a series of measures that will end speculation on the rupee, in a move to arrest its slide without using foreign exchange reserves.



Canadian firm Brookfield Asset Management and Ashok Piramal Group company Peninsula Land have entered into a joint venture to float a Rs 500 crore realty fund.



Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd signed a memorandum of understanding in New Delhi to set up a joint venture for manufacturing transmission-line towers and tower parts.



Indiabulls Real Estate on Thursday approved buyback of its shares through open market at a price not exceeding Rs 75 a share. The realty developer will spend up to Rs 450 crore on the proposed buyback at the prevailing market price, it informed BSE.



Indian Oil Corp has cut prices of aviation turbine fuel by Rs 920 per kilolitre effective December 16. Domestic prices of ATF in Mumbai has been slashed to Rs 64,730.23/ kl from Rs 65,650.27.



Electrotherm (India) Ltd, the Ahmedabad-based induction melting furnace maker, on Thursday announced selling its ductile iron pipe business to the French major Saint-Gobain.



Tata Motors Global Sales Grow 35% in November



Ashwin Dani, vice-chairman of Asian Paints, has joined the board of cement major ACC as an independent director.



IOC cuts domestic Jet fuel prices by Rs 920/kl (Reports)


Reliance Mediaworks plans rights issue of Rs 500 crore in March 2012 – FE


Promoters exit Ambuja Cements by selling 0.79% stake to Swiss major Holcim, pockets Rs 387 crore (TOI)



F&O Ban: Aban Offshore, ABG Shipyard, Gitanjali Gems, Punj Lloyd, Ruchi Soya