MUMBAI (Reuters) The BSE Sensex should kick off the new financial year on a strong note on Wednesday, with financial stocks in focus after upbeat banking sector news spurred European and Wall Street higher and boosted sentiment in Asia.
Private-sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, and government-run State Bank of India may bounce back after lagging the market this week.
A Reuters technical analysis showed near-term trends from the main index were bullish, and the correlation with Wall Street was still very high.
Financials across the world rose after British bank Barclays Plc rejected an offer to take part in a British government plan to insure risky assets.
Top real-estate firm DLF Ltd will also be watched after the Mint newspaper reported several companies, including Adani Group, Essar Power, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services, Hong Kong’s CLP Group and UK’s BG Group, have shown interest in buying its wind power business.
Asian markets were higher. Japan’s Nikkei was 2.1 percent higher by 0353 GMT, while while MSCI’s measure of other Asian markets was up 0.4 percent.
Nifty futures traded in Singapore were trading up 0.3 percent, pointing to a higher opening in India.
On Tuesday, Indian shares rose 1.5 percent and propelled the main index to its first quarterly gain since 2007. The 30-share BSE index ended up 140.36 points at 9,708.50.
STOCKS TO WATCH
* Hero Honda Motors Ltd, after its March two-wheeler sales rose 10.2 percent to 353,342 units.
* Drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd, after it said it was considering a potential recasting of some businesses and its units, fuelling speculation the company may sell stake in one of
its units.
* Punjab National Bank, after it said it reduced interest rates on retail term deposits between 50 to 100 basis points across different maturities.
* Software firm Geodesic Ltd, after it said it bought back $8.5 million worth of 2013 foreign currency convertible bonds listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
