Stock market today - a forecast

Before predicting about the Indian market will fare today, let us take a stalk of some of the facts. This will definitely help us in understanding the market individually.

US stocks finished broadly flat on Wednesday in spite of the Federal Reserve revealing new stimulus measures. The Dow Jones industrial average, DJI slipped 2.99 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,245.45 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX inched up just 0.64 of a point, or 0.04 percent, to 1,428.48. But the Nasdaq Composite Index, IXIC shed 8.49 points, or 0.28 percent, to end at 3,013.81. The major European markets also were mixed on Wednesday as the DAX of Germany climbed 0.31 percent and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. rose 0.33 percent. The CAC 40 of France added 0.01 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland lost 0.21 percent.

The Asian markets were mostly higher on Wednesday as Taiwan spiked 1.00 percent, while Thailand surged 0.99 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.80 percent, Singapore's Straits Times gathered 0.75 percent, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.59 percent, South Korea's KOSPI climbed 0.55 percent, Malaysia was up 0.50 percent, Indonesia collected 0.45 percent, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.39 percent, Australia added 0.23 percent and New Zealand dropped 0.77 percent.

The index of industrial production (IIP) for October had a positive growth rate of 8.2%, compared to a negative growth of 5% for the corresponding month last year. Manufacturing sector's growth rate in October, with a weightage of 75.53%, witnessed a positive growth of 9.6%, compared to a negative growth of 6% in the corresponding month of the preceding year. Growth in Power sector slipped marginally to 5.5% from the 5.6% for the corresponding month last year, while Mining sector witnessed a negative growth of 0.1%, compared to a negative growth of 5.9% in October last year. Inflation data based on the consumer price index rose marginally to 9.90% in October as compared to 9.75% in the previous month, on account of a sharp increase in prices of sugar, pulses and vegetables, government data showed Monday.

From the above facts and figures, it is very much a certainty that the trend of Indian market will remains up but consolidation will continue. There is every possibility that the market by the end of the day will move up. Technically, the Sensex is poised to end the day on a positive note, breaking its streak of consecutive loss for four days.