16 August 2010 Morning Market Updates:

16 August 2010 Morning Market Updates:
Stocks that are in news today:
Listing today: SKS Microfinance
Cairn India

Cairn India writes to DGH on oil & gas discovery in KG Basin
Cairn India may have made major oil &gas discovery in onshore KG Block
Cairn India informs DGH that gas reserves could be upwards of 10 Tcf
KG onshore block will require further drilling to substantiate resource
Vedanta-Cairn deal - Sources
Vedanta-Cairn Energy Plc conclude negotiations
Vedanta to acquire 51% stake in Cairn India
Cairn Plc to sell part stake in Cairn India
Petronas unlikely to sell Cairn India stake to Vedanta
ONGC concerned about Vedanta's lack of oil & gas experience
May take up issue of Vedanta's inexperience with oil ministry: Sources
RBI introduced minimum capital adequacy norms and limits by holding companies
The move will crimp borrowings by several large companies and force them to revamp their ownership structures
Stocks to watch: McDowell Holdings, Network 18, Jindal South West Holding, UB holding, Bajaj Holding
Other stocks and sectors that are in news today:
Kamath front-runner to succeed Murthy as Infosys chairman – ET
Suzlon may sell around 25% stake RePower stake to PE Players for USD 500 million – ET
Mahanagar Gas plans IPO – BS (It’s a JV between Gail and British Gas)
Eli Lilly loses patent case in US over its hyperactivity disorder drug, Sun Pharma and Aurobindo to benefit – BS
Raymond to revisit package for Thane mill workers, civic authority, union and management to meet tomorrow to discuss new package for employees – BS
Pipavav Shipyard: To Issue of 2.52 crore warrants to promoters for investment of Rs 250 crore, Signed MOU with Transocean Offshore for repairs of its off-shore drilling Units
NMDC acquired 1948 acres of land for setting up 3.MTPA steel plant
Power Firms plans 5-7% tariff hike – DNA
Tata Steel gets approval to explore Ankua mine – DNA
Tata Power Ex-Dividend @ Rs 12/share
Wockhardt increased Authorized capital from Rs 925 crore to Rs 1125 crore (Issued 40 crore prefrence shares of Rs.5 each)
Ramsarup Inds: Issuance of 35 lakh warrants to Promoter & Stratergic Investor (not more than 10% of company) - also Issuance of FCCB to extend of Rs 1150 crore (Market Cap Rs 300 crore)
Shilpa Medicare board meet on 16 Aug to consider the issue of equity on preferential basis
House of Pearl Fashions: Board has approved for Scheme of Arrangement for merger of Pearl Global with House of Pearl Fashions
Powergrid to lease out towers to telecos – ET
Gangotri Iron & Steel: Stock Split in ratio of 2:1
F&O cues:
Futures Open Int was up by Rs 1213 crore
Options Open Int was up by Rs 2600 crore
Nifty Fut add 1.17 lakh shares in Open Int in Aug
Nifty Fut add 3.14 lakh shares in Open Int in Sep
Nifty Futures unchanged at 4 pts prem
Nifty Open Int PCR at 1.49 versus 1.45
Nifty Puts add 31 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Calls add 4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Aug 5500 Put adds 10 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Aug 5400 Put adds 7.9 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Sep 5400 Put adds 4.4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Aug 5500 Call adds 4 lakh shares in Open Int
Nifty Aug 5600 Call sheds 8.4 lk shrs in Open Int
Stock Futures add 2.4 cr shares in Open Int
FIIs in F&O on August 13
Net buy Rs 486 crore in Nifty Futures
Net buy Rs 833 crore in Nifty Options
Net sell Rs 76 crore in Stock Futures
US Markets:
US stocks closed out their worst week in six with a whimper on Friday, slumping toward the close as economic data gave little reason to reverse a string of sell-offs.

In a thinly traded session, indexes posted their fourth day of losses though selling pressure was limited in the Dow by strength in Bank of America Corp.
US retail sales rebounded last month, as did the overall July Consumer Price Index, but the data was consistent with an economy that has slowed in recent months.

Positive corporate earnings and improved technicals helped the market rally through July and early August, but sentiment soured this week and stocks turned negative for the year after a darker assessment of the economy by the Federal Reserve and renewed concerns about China's economic growth rate.
For the week, the Dow fell 3.3%, while the S&P slid 3.8% and the Nasdaq lost 5%.
"We've seen a succession of bad news this week that was punctuated by the Fed's comments, so while we have some semblance of self-sufficiency, it's clear we'll be in a slow-growth period for a long time," said Steven Baffico, senior managing director at Claymore Securities in Lisle, Illinois.
The S&P 500 relinquished its hold on the 200-day moving average that had generated some positive momentum and was trading below its 50-day moving average on Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 16.80 points, or 0.16%, to 10,303.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 4.36 points, or 0.40%, to 1,079.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 16.79 points, or 0.77%, to 2,173.48.
Consumer sentiment stabilized this month after a sharp drop in July, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys' preliminary August reading showed. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said business inventories rose slightly more than expected in June.
Alan Gayle, the senior investment strategist at the Richmond, Virginia-based RidgeWorth Investment, said that even though sentiment was better than expected in the month, it was coming off of a low level, which "suggests that consumers remain very uncertain in this environment."
Bank of America was the Dow's top percentage gainer, rising 1.3% to USD 13.23.
The S&P Consumer Discretionary index fell 1.1% after the data and disappointing outlooks from both Nordstrom Inc and J.C. Penney Co Inc. Nordstrom tumbled 7.2% to USD 31.05 and Penney lost 4.7% to USD 19.82.
The S&P Retail index slid 1.4% while the S&P Department store sub-industry index slumped 3.2%.
Retailers will remain in focus next week, as a number of sector bellwethers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Gap Inc and Target Corp are scheduled to report their quarterly results.
Apollo Group Inc was the top percentage loser in the Nasdaq 100, falling 3.8% to USD 38.94 alongside other education companies. The sector was hit as brokerages cut price targets on the stocks and the government said it would hire more investigators to prevent fraud by for-profit colleges.
Eli Lilly and Co fell 2.5% to USD 35.70 after the drugmaker lost a patent case that cleared the way for generic competition for Strattera, its attention deficit disorder drug.
On the upside, shares of both Nvidia Corp and Rambus Inc rallied after Rambus granted patent licenses to Nvidia, raising hopes for an end to a lengthy legal battle.
Nvidia shot up 4.8% to USD 9.39 while Rambus gained 3.8% to USD 18.71.
Volume was extremely light, with only 5.98 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, well below last year's estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.
Decliners slightly outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by a ratio of about 8-to-7, while on the Nasdaq, about nine stocks fell for every four that rose.