Local equity markets kicked off 2010 on a positive note as investors extended their buying spree for second day in a row. Good growth in auto sales for most of the auto makers and expansion in manufacturing activity in December 2009 helped support hopes for continued economic recovery and lured marketmen towards equities in the day's trade. Benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, started the day in the red but managed a smart recovery from their day's lows in early trades to touch new 52-week highs of 17,582.84 and 5238.45, respectively. The markets opened 55 minutes earlier from their previous trading time but failed to garner even the average volumes. Auto, metal and consumer durables stocks were the major gainers in trade while oil & gas stocks saw some profit booking. Reliance Industries (RIL) shed over one percent in trade after it raised Rs 2,600 crore by selling the company's 2.5 crore treasury shares at 5% discount to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). JSW Energy, which made its debut on the bourses, shut shop in the flat territory after listing at a premium of two rupees. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 93.92 points or 0.54% to end at 17,558.73, while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 31.15 points or 0.60% to close at 5232.20.

The US markets made a good start of the year 2010, all the major indices went for a rally of more than 1.5%.It was the news about manufacturing that lifted the stocks up and filled the investors with confidence. The Institute for Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity rose to 55.9 from 53.6 in November, a bigger improvement than analysts predicted. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 155.91 points, or 1.50%, to 10,583.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 17.89 points, or 1.60%, to 1,132.99, while the Nasdaq composite index added 39.27 points, or 1.73%, to 2,308.42.

The crude prices started the New Year with a boil and went past $81/ a barrel. The rise in the prices was getting support from the weakness in dollar and the chills of winter weather. A surprisingly strong manufacturing report too added to the sentiments of the crude. Benchmark crude for February delivery climbed $2.15 to settle at $81.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price reached as high as $81.68 in the day's trade. In London, Brent crude for February delivery added $2.19 to settle at $80.12 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The Indian rupee closed at its high of more than a month on Monday, the domestic currency, that traded flat in the last trading started surging from the very beginning, tracking strong regional currencies and as foreign banks bought rupee to arbitrage in the offshore non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market. Most major Asian currencies rose against the dollar. Finally the rupee closed at 46.28, 34 paise higher compared to its Friday's close of 46.62.

The FII on Monday were the net buyers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 2702.50 crore against gross sell of Rs 1868.50 crore, while in the debt segment the gross purchase was of Rs 1085.90 crore with gross sales of Rs 668.90 crore.

The US markets went for a rally on the very first trading day of the New Year; all the indices witnessed January effect and surged by more than 1.5%. The Asian markets too have made a good start and most of the indices were trading up. The domestic markets continued their upmove in the new year and touched their fresh high, auto and metal indices were the major gainers. Today the global cues are indicating a good start for the local markets, the fifth postponement for the auction of spectrum to offer 3G services might put some pressure on telecom companies.

Support and Resistance: S&P CNX Nifty and BSE Sensex

                                                          Nifty Top volumes

• Suzlon Energy has bagged an order from conglomerate ITC for supplying 27 MW of wind power turbines.
• Reliance Industries raised Rs 2,600 crore by selling the company's 2.5 crore treasury shares at 5% discount to LIC.
• Bhilai Steel Plant, a flagship unit of the SAIL has recorded the best ever performance in the last nine months.
• Tata Motors has sold total 51,627 units in December 2009 against 25,219 units in December 2008, up 105%.
• ACC's cement despatches for the month of December 2009 declined by 1.05% to 1.88 million tonne from 1.90 million tonne in December 2008.