Pre-Market report on 05.03.2008

[B. KARTHICK]

Dow refuses to bow, Sensex loses glow

Dow Jones did it again. The Indices pulled back nearly 181 points to
finally
close down 45.1 points at 12,213.80, above the support levels of
12,140-
12,170 band. Citigroup bore the brunt of investors today after Merrill
Lynch
revised the growth forecast and might declare additional write downs.
Tomorrow is another key day with ADP Employment and Factory orders
data
coming up. Any surprises will be met with huge gains in the Indices.

Asian markets started on a mixed note with Nikkei trading marginally
down 49
points at 12,942.85. Strong yen is weighing on the stocks. Bank of
Japan will
be meeting today and most likely to keep the rate unchanged.

Indian Markets yet again proved to be the weakest among the Emerging
markets
and most importantly the Asian pack. Sensex tumbled to a 5 month low
yesterday after a private TV channel tried to expose the subprime link
of
ICICI Bank, which the bank later denied. However ICICI Bank and its
overseas
banking subsidiaries have an aggregate exposure of USD 2.2 billion in
credit
derivatives. As of January 31, 2008, the mark-to-market negative on
this
portfolio due to movement of credit spreads was about US$ 155 million.
The
current declines should be used by long term investors to buy the
stock. With
ICICI Securities IPO coming up and demerger of many of the subsidaries
will
unlock the value in the stock.

Tata Motors is setting ambitious targets for Nano. The company is
looking
aggressively to export Nano to US and European markets. The stock is
likely
to outperform the market in the coming years on exports.

SEBI will meet today under the chairmanship of Mr.CB Bhave. SEBI is
likely to
slash all regulatory charges and approve realty Mutual Funds. FM
remarked on
Tuesday that FII's are not behind the recent market crash and there
was no
proposal to ban them.

It is high time for a bounce in the Indian Markets but technically we
have no
supports in place till 15,880 levels. Stay away from the markets till
normal
conditions. There will not be any run away rallies this time.

Market Close Box :
==================

BSE Sensex 16339.89 -337.99
NSE Nifty 4864.25 -88.75
USD Rs.40.29
Oil Nymex $99.52

B.Karthick,