• The market may extend Tuesday (16 February 2010)’s gains on firm global stocks. Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 for the sixth time in seven days on speculation the global economy is recovering as commodity prices gained, US manufacturing expanded faster than estimated and Barclays Plc more than doubled profit. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore rose by between 0.59% to 2.1%. China and Taiwan’s market were closed due to public holiday.

• Meanwhile, European ministers told Greece on Tuesday it may need to take further steps to bring a swollen debt under control and calm “irrational” financial markets, as wage cuts already announced by Athens sparked another strike.

• US stocks logged their best single-session percentage advance in three months on Tuesday, 16 February 2010 as buyers returned from an extended weekend. The sharp drop in the dollar, better than expected earnings, positive data and M&A activity boosted the market.

• Closer home, the wholesale price inflation could cross 10 % by end-March, depending how food prices behave in the next two weeks, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could tighten monetary policy even earlier than an April policy review chief statistician Pronab Sen said on Tuesday. The monthly index touched a 14-month high of 8.56 % in January 2010, leaping over the central bank’s end-March target of 8.5 %. The food articles index rose an annual 17.43 % in January, near an 11-year high. The manufacturing inflation was up at 6.55 % in January, in a sign that food inflation was impacting other sectors.

• There are expectations that the central bank may take some monetary action at its next policy review in April 2010 as industrial output growth also picked up pace, growing 16.8% in December from a year earlier.

• In stock specific news, Tata Steel on Tuesday said its consolidated net profit for the December quarter, which includes its UK unit Corus, fell 42%, although higher prices and increased volumes led to a rise in its operating profit margins.

• As per provisional figures on NSE, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 385.72 crore and domestic funds sold shares worth Rs 452.74 crore on Tuesday.