• The market may open higher on positive Asian stocks. US stocks edged higher on Tuesday after U.S. pending home sales increased in the month of December 2010. Investors will closely watch opening of the large follow-on public offer (FPO) of staterun power generation firm NTPC today, 3 February 2010.

• The government fixed the benchmark price for the proposed divestment of government stake at Rs 201 per share. NTPC kickstarts what is expected to be a large fund raising exercise by Indian firms in calendar 2010 from share sales. A section ofthe market is concerned that a glut in share sales will soak liquidity from the secondary market. As per reports, Indian firms may raise $30 billion from share sale in 2010, led by government stake sales and initial public offers from power and property firms. Indian companies raised about $20 billion from share sales in calendar 2009.

• On the macro front, manufacturing activity in January 2010 grew at its fastest pace in almost 1-1/2 years, driven by a sharp rise in new export orders that are supporting a recovery in the industrial sector, a survey showed on Monday. The HSBC Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), based on a survey of 500 Indian companies, rose to 57.7 in January, its strongest reading since August 2008 and up from 55.6 in December.

• Asian stocks advanced on Wednesday after U.S. pending home sales increased and commodity prices gained.

• In US markets on Tuesday after a shaky start, the Dow logged its second straight triple-digit gain, the S&P 500 jumped back to the 1100 mark. Some encouraging earnings report, positive pending home sales data and strong auto sales from Ford led the upmove. Ford’s sales rose 35% in January 2010

• Closer home, as per provisional figures on NSE, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 455.01 crore and domestic funds bought shares worth Rs 41.93 crore on Tuesday.