Bulls look for quality gains!

Those who speak most of progress measure it by quantity and not by quality.

After staging a strong comeback in March, the bulls seem to be eyeing quantitative gains this month too. Fueling the pull-back rally are tentative signs of improvement in economic conditions, not just here but globally. However, the data is still pretty mixed. While ABN AMRO's PMI and auto sales are showing recovery in manufacturing, trade and BoP data are anything but inspiring. While wholesale inflation will soon turn sub-zero, consumer prices are still ruling high.

To make matters worse, policy-making has been hit by the model code of conduct. The election in itself could throw up some surprises. We will also have to grapple with earnings and possible negative surprises there too. Before that markets are looking at the G-20 summit for some encouraging words. Whether we get a unanimous plan to combat the global turmoil remains to be seen. In the meantime, RIL has kicked off gas supply from the KG basin. We expect the market to open firm and remain so given the strong global cues.

FIIs were net buyers in the cash segment on Wednesday at Rs1.74bn while the local institutions were net buyers at Rs116mn. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers at Rs6.93bn. On Tuesday, the foreign funds were net sellers at Rs5.31bn in the cash segment.

US stocks jumped on Wednesday, as traders focused on positive economic reports on pending home sales and manufacturing while ignoring the weak auto sales and another grim labor-market survey for the private sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 152.68 points, or 2.01%, to 7761.6. The Dow's second straight gain pared its losses for 2009 to 12% and brought it 19% above its closing nadir on March 9.

The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 13.21 points, or 1.66%, to 811.08, and is now 20% above its March 9 close. The Nasdaq Composite index was up 23.01 points, or 1.51%, at 1551.6, paring its loss for the year to date to 1.6%.

Stocks had tumbled at the open on a worse-than-expected private sector jobs survey and reports that GM and Chrysler will have to go into bankruptcy to restructure. But the selling pressure eased as the day wore on.

Stocks gained in March at the end of the Dow's worst first quarter in 70 years. The blue-chip indicator gained 7.7% during the month, but fell 13.3% in the first quarter, its worst January-March showing since 1939.

The Dow and S&P 500 briefly touched more than 12-year lows in early March, before bouncing back on optimism that the world's largest economy is closer to stabilizing. But, the real test will come over the next few weeks as investors sort through the first-quarter results.

March auto sales fell 35%, but a rise from February levels could suggest the industry has bottomed. Ford Motor said sales fell 41% from a year ago, although they were up from January and February levels. Ford, considered to be in the best financial shape of the three Detroit automakers, had been expected to post a decline of 50%.

Toyota Motor said sales fell 39% and Honda Motor said sales fell 36%. General Motors (GM) said sales fell 45% in the month, while privately held Chrysler said sales fell 39%.

GM and Chrysler have managed to stay afloat due to billions in aid from the government, but are in danger of being forced into bankruptcy if they can't come up with a plan to stay viable.

The Obama administration rejected both companies' restructuring plans on Monday. GM has 60 days to figure out how to cut costs and debt. Chrysler has 30 days to complete a deal with Fiat. Barring that, the government could force both companies into bankruptcy court to restructure.

The pending home sales index rose 2.1% in February, surprising economists who were expecting a flat reading. Pending home sales fell 7.7% in January.

Private sector employers cut 742,000 jobs from their payrolls in March after cutting a revised 706,000 in February, according to a report from payroll services firm ADP. Economists had predicted a reduction of 663,000 jobs. The report is closely watched ahead of the monthly jobs report.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 36.3 in March from 35.8 in February, versus forecasts for a rise to 36.

February construction spending fell 0.9%, after dropping a revised 3.5% in January. Economists had forecast a fall of 1.9% in the month.

Diversified manufacturer 3M said that it was cutting 1,200 jobs worldwide in the first quarter, or 1.5% of its workforce. Shares of the Dow component rose nearly 2%.

Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.65% from 2.66% on Tuesday.

Lending rates were mostly higher. The 3-month Libor rate dipped to 1.18% from 1.19% on Tuesday. The overnight Libor rate fell to 0.3% from 0.51% Tuesday. Libor is a bank-to-bank lending rate.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and fell against the yen.

US light crude oil for May delivery settled down $1.27 to $48.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery rose $2.70 to settle at $927.70 an ounce.

Investors were gearing up for the start of the G-20 meeting in London, which brings together leaders from the world's largest economies. President Obama is expected to make the push for a bigger global economic stimulus effort.

He is also expected to detail the new financial regulations pitched to Congress last week as a means of preventing another financial meltdown like the current one.

The weekly jobless claims report and February factory orders index are also due on Thursday.

Europe stocks closed higher on Wednesday after a volatile day of trade. Down as much as 1.7% early in the day, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index finished with a rise of 1.6% to 179.26 as the highly-geared banking sector advanced.

The French CAC-40 index ended up 1.1% at 2,839.61. The German DAX 30 index rose 1.1% to 4,131.07 and the UK's FTSE 100 index added 0.8% to 3,955.61.

Indian markets extended gains for second straight trading session on Wednesday. After a sloppy start, key indices gained momentum as the day progressed. Even weak trade data was unable to dampen the sentiments on Dalal Street. Finally, the BSE Sensex advanced 193 points to close at 9,901 and the NSE Nifty was up 39 points at 3,060.

Among the 30-components of Sensex, 20 stocks ended in positive terrain and 10 stocks were in the red. Among the top gainers were Reliance Infrastructure, Ranbaxy, HDFC, DLF, ICICI Bank and Infosys.

The top losers in the Sensex were, Sun Pharma, Grasim, BHEL, Sterlite, Bharti Airtel and Hindustan Unilever.

Shares of BGR Energy have surged by over 10% to Rs156 after BGR Boilers Pvt Ltd a special vehicle unit and Foster Wheeler North America Corp., a subsidiary of Foster Wheeler's Global Power Group have entered into a license agreement to design manufacture and sell Sub-critical coal fired Steam Generators (Boilers).

The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs157 and a low of Rs141 and has recorded volumes of over 0.34mn shares on NSE.

Shares of Suzlon have surged by over 7% to Rs45.5 after the company's Australian subsidiary entered into contract with AGL Energy Ltd for supplying 132.3MW wind turbine capacity, stated reports.

The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs46.1 and a low of Rs42.4 and has recorded volumes of over 20.7mn shares on NSE.

Shares of Kalpataru Power erased gains and ended lower by 1% to Rs323 after the company announced that it won three projects for transmission lines worth Rs4bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs339 and a low of Rs322 and has recorded volumes of over 15,000 shares on BSE.

Shares of Ranbaxy rallied by over 7% to Rs178 after the company announced that it is all set to launch a drug for high blood pressure discovered by Daiichi. The scrip touched an intra-day high of