Market Watch: 10 stocks you must keep an eye on today

A slight risk off is emerging in global markets. For today, global cues are strong and our market could see a move up on the back of positive cues but then again it could also be tempered due to Reliance Industries’ fourth quarter numbers which saw a 21% drop in PAT.

US Markets

In the US, markets pared their early gains to finish mixed on Friday with the Nasdaq taking in losses due to the weakness seen in Apple Inc. Apple is now down about 10% from its highest levels this year. The decline comes ahead of its quarterly earnings report, scheduled for tomorrow.

CLICK HERE to listen to the pre market cues with Moneycontrol.com's Chelsea Saldanha.

However the Dow and S&P still ended higher for the week, propelled by some robust earnings and encouraging news from the eurozone. For the week, the Dow gained 1.40%, the S&P 500 added 0.60%, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.36%.

Europe Check

European markets closed higher on Friday following a report that showed German business sentiment rose unexpectedly for the sixth month in a row. Meanwhile, yields on Spanish 10-year bonds rose again above the market-sensitive level of 6% and German bunds rallied.

IMF Wraps Up Spring Meet

European policymakers were urged to be tougher and more agile in their efforts to end two years of debt turmoil as the International Monetary Fund won more than USD 430 billion to safeguard the world economy. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde's push for doubling in lending power paid off despite complaints from emerging markets wanting more say in how the fund is run and calls from some richer nations for aid to be more tightly controlled.

French Elections

The first round of presidential elections over the weekend has concluded in France. Nicolas Sarkozy and socialist candidate Francois Hollande have qualified for the second round of elections and as expected, the socialist candidate won the first round with nearly 28% of the votes, while Nicolas Sarkozy was in second place with nearly 27% of the votes.

Asian Markets

Asian shares steadied on Monday after the IMF secured new funding to prevent the contagion of the eurozone's debt crisis, while investors turned to Chinese data to gauge the market's resilience to risk.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly flat while Japan's Nikkei average opened up 0.4%.

Currency & Commodity Corner

In the currency space, euro retreated from two-week highs of USD 1.3225 against the dollar hit on Friday, standing down 0.1% at USD 1.3208. The euro rose 1.1% last week for its best weekly performance since the week of February 26. Currently, the dollar is showing some strength in Asia trade on low probability of another round of QE3.

In commodities, crude prices remained stable with Brent trading around USD 118/bbl as improved German business sentiment countered nervousness about the eurozone debt crisis.

From the precious metals space, gold was flat at USD 1640/oz in thin trade and remained on track to log declines for two of the past three weeks as investors took to the sidelines ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting this week.

Indian Market

And back home, the Nifty ended 41 points lower while the Sensex shed 130 points on Friday.

Stock Specific Action

Big boy Reliance managed to meet expectations for its fourth quarter results while its refining and petchem divisions did better than expected. The management provided some clarity on E&P. In a CNBC-TV18 exclusive, sources indicate that the new capex is unlikely by Reliance unless gas price is market linked. The company may not plan fresh capex until the price is hiked beyond USD 4.2/mmbtu. Watch out for this blue chip stock in trade today.

Meanwhile Cairn India posted its Q4 net profit at Rs 2,186 crore missing street estimates of Rs 2,250 crore, mainly due to the surge in forex loss to Rs 217 crore.

IDBI Bank reported a good set of numbers. The bank saw a strong jump in PAT due to decline in provisions. Both asset quality and margins improved sequentially.

From the aviation space, sources indicate that SpiceJet may look to induct an Asian airline as a strategic partner. CNBC-TV18 learns that Emirates & SpiceJet are in initial talks and that the stake sale talks will proceed only post the FDI approval.

Dr Reddy's will replace DLF from the Sensex with effect June 11.

Earnings to Watch

TCS will declare their fourth quarter numbers today. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, the company may see nearly 2% gains in dollar revenue aided by one month revenue from the Friend's Life deal and cross currency benefits. However, expect some pressure on margins.

The earnings season will further gather momentum this week with about 175 companies scheduled to announce their January-March quarter numbers. Investors will keenly watch earnings reports from TCS (April 23), Sesa Goa (April 24), Wipro (April 25), ICICI Bank (April 27) and Maruti Suzuki (April 28) next week to gauge the financial health of India Inc.

Chelsea Saldanha
Chelsea.saldanha@network18online.com