Opening Bell: Will July WPI inflation data dampen mkt mood?

US markets closed in positive territory, rebounding after Atlanta Federal Reserve president Dennis Lockhart downplayed the notion that the central bank would begin winding down its bond-buying program at its September meeting. European markets also ended higher on the back of positive economic data.  

Indian equity benchmark on Tuesday posted best gain in a day since July 11, rising nearly 283 points on further short covering in most beaten stocks-especially rate sensitives. Sensex closed at 19229.84, while the Nifty rose 86.90 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 5,699.30 after hitting an intraday high of 5704.75.

Back home, all eyes will be on July WPI inflation data due today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, it is seen rising to 4.94 percent versus 4.86 percent month on month led by primary and fuel inflation. Primary inflation may come in around 8 percent.

Meanwhile Credit Suisse has lowered India’s growth forecast for FY14 to 6 percent from 6.5 percent and for financial year 2014-15 to 7 percent from 7.5 percent earlier

Stocks to watch

Brokers unite against the promoters of NSEL; they want the government to take over the debt ridden exchange and question NSEL's claims of stocks in warehouses. They seek immediate repayment a day ahead of NSEL's promised declaration of its payback plan.

From the tech space, Indian IT companies open a new front to lobby against Immigration Bill. A group of 8 Indian IT companies form a lobbying consortium which includes Infosys, Cognizant, Mindtree and Hexaware. 

In earnings action, Tata Steel surprised the street with a good performance by Corus. Its first quarter net profit doubled to Rs 1139 crores against a CNBC-TV18 poll estimate of Rs 300 crore.

In news from the auto space, Bajaj Auto union members have called off their strike unconditionally, but maintain that the core issues remain unresolved and the fact that they have called of the strike unconditionally should be seen as a goodwill gesture because of the festival season. The management will give the workers hike wages but that will be within the framework of the wage settlement agreement that was agreed upon in 2009. They will re-start production from today.

Anand Mahindra yesterday presided over his first shareholders' meeting as the chairman of the group. Speaking about the auto industry Mahindra said the slowdown is deep and the recent hike in excise duties has not helped them.

Sources indicate that HDFC Bank will up deposit rates by 25-100 bps across tenures today.

Agency reports indicate that cabinet has approved 3.56 percent stake sale in NLC.

US

Apple spiked nearly 5 percent after billionaire investor Carl Icahn reported a "large position" in the stock. The CBOE vix slid near 12.

The 10-year treasury yields jumped, with the benchmark 10-year note gaining 8 basis points to 2.699 percent.

On the economic data front retail sales edged up 0.2 percent in July. And import prices rose less than expected in July, gaining just 0.2 percent last month.

In key data to watch out for in the US today, Producer Price Index is expected to slip to 0.3% for the month of July.

Europe

Markets ended higher after Germany’s closely-watched Zew indicator of economic sentiment came in at a highest since March. The important economic sentiment index for August climbed to 42.

Currency

The euro stayed below 1.33 to the dollar. Meanwhile the dollar index rose to 81.80 levels. The dollar-yen stood around 98.

Commodities

Brent crude is trading around USD 109 per barrel on supply worries. From precious metals space, gold slipped marginally to USD 1320 an ounce.