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Thursday December 17, 09:40 AM
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BSE Sensex seen flat to higher; Bharti in focus
MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex (^BSESN : 16029.36 -12.82
) is expected to tread water early on Thursday, with no clear direction from mixed Asian markets.
Shares in leading telecom firm Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 317.2 +3.4
) will be in focus after an official from Abu Dhabhi group said it expects to close a deal to sell 70 percent in Bangladesh's Warid Telecom to Bharti by mid-January 2010.
Bharti shares had closed up 2.8 percent on Wednesday on hopes
the company may be looking to buy Warid.
The main BSE stock index is likely to extend its recent rally into 2010, underpinned by strong economic growth and an improving earnings outlook, but it is unlikely to repeat 2009's spectacular rise, a Reuters poll showed.
Asian shares were trading mixed after the Federal Reserve voiced optimism about the stabilising U.S. economy and left the benchmark interest rate near zero.
The MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than Japan was down 0.59 percent by 0335 GMT, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent.
The Nifty (^NSEI : 4779.6 -13.05) India stock futures in Singapore were down 0.08 percent.
"The market is at an indecisive stage. People are waiting for cues," said Vinod Bansal, director at Ficuswealth.com.
On Wednesday, the BSE index rose 0.2 percent to 16,912.77 points, with export-focused outsourcers leading the way on expectation a recovering world economy will boost demand for their services.
The benchmark is up more than 75 percent so far in 2009.
STOCKS TO WATCH
* HCL Axon, a unit of HCL Technologies (HCLTECH.NS : 349.75 +3), after it signed a 5-year IT services agreement with UK-based GlaxoSmithKline.
* Hindustan Construction Co Ltd after it won a contract worth about 3.18 billion rupees from the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
* Gemini Communication Ltd after the telecom services firm said it along with its unit PointRed Telecom has won a contract worth 4.35 billion rupees from state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
* Kanoria Chemicals & Industries after it said its board would meet on Dec. 19 to consider a rights issue of shares.
(Reporting by Prashant Mehra and Swati Pandey; Editing by Ranjit
Gangadharan)
(For more news on Reuters Money visit http://www.reutersmoney.in)
