Will FY13GDP data help lift listless Nifty?

Moneycontrol Bureau

Key equity benchmarks continued to reel in trade ending Wednesday’s session on a flat note. Sensex closed down 31 points at 19627 and the Nifty managed to finish in the green, ending the listless session up 2.30 points at 5959.

The CSO estimates for India's FY13 gross domestic product (GDP) will be released today. A CNBC-TV18 poll expects 5.5 percent as the GDP growth for FY13. GDP in Q3 is expected to be even lower at about 5 percent because the Kharif downtick will be very high.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) numbers are nothing to write home about. So, the GDP could be closer to 5 percent in the third quarter and nearly 6 percent in the fourth quarter because of the expected uptick and the base being very bad.

Meanwhile, Wall Street ended flat after a choppy session while euro zone equities sank to two-month lows on political worries. With this, the Asian markets kicked off trade on a muted note today morning.

At 7: 42 am (IST), Asian markets were trading lower. China's Shanghai Composite shed 0.77% or 18.81 points at 2,415.67.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.16% or 38.32 points at 23,218.61.  Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.96% or 110.14 points at 11,353.61. 

Singapore's Straits Times declined 0.39% or 12.64 points at 3,263.89.  South Korea's Seoul Composite was flat at 1,936.32. Taiwan Weighted shut today.

Back home, All eyes will be on the GDP data, a CNBC-TV18 poll sees the FY13 GDP around 5.5% while FY14 GDP reading is seen crossing the 6% mark at 6.3%.

In key earnings- Tech Mahindra posted strong numbers. Its revenue growth was aided by recent acquisitions and margins showed surprise improvements, up 28 bps. Cement and tyre companies will declare numbers today.

In the currency space, the euro drifted lower as cautious investors waited for the outcomes of policy meetings by the European Central Bank and Bank of England. The dollar index is below 80.

In commodity space, Brent crude prices continue to trade above USD116 per barrel. In precious metals, gold prices traded over USD1677 an ounce.