Nifty has key resistance at 5,760....

''The Nifty expected to head higher till 5,950 with support around 5,600 in the immediate run. The key supports in the immediate run will be around 5,640 and resistance will be at 5,760 Of the 50 stocks of the Nifty.

Re 1 a litre cut in petrol price likely soon

Petrol price may be cut by as much as Re 1 per litre over the next few days when state-owned oil firms review rates. Petrol prices were last revised on October 27 when they were raised by 29 paise to Rs 68.19 per litre in Delhi following government raising the commission paid to petrol pump dealers. "There has been some reduction in gasoline rates (against which the domestic price of petrol is benchmarked against) giving us some margins (on petrol). But they have moved up again in the last few days. "Also, rupee has appreciated against the US dollar ... we have to take a view (on prices) keeping all these factors in mind," said R S Butola, Chairman of Indian Oil Corp , the nation's largest fuel retailer. The oil companies were making a margin of close to Rs 2 per litre, but considering the impact of rise in gasoline rate and appreciation in rupee, the net available margin may be just around Re 1 per litre. "We will review (prices) in next few days ... may be at the end of the week or early next week," Butola said. The government had in June 2010 deregulated petrol prices giving oil companies freedom to fix rates in line with the cost. However, prices have seldom moved in line with cost and oil companies buckled under political pressure to keep rates checked to help the government manage inflation. Butola said IOC lost Rs 1,167 crore on selling petrol below cost during the first six months of current fiscal. And since the product is deregulated, there will be no subsidy support from the budget to cover these losses. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Director (Finance) B Mukherjee said, "We are making profit on petrol like any other free product." Refusing to divulge the margin on petrol, Mukherjee said in April-September the company had lost Rs 678 crore on selling petrol below its cost. Oil companies have abandoned the practice of revising petrol rates on 1st and 16th of every month by taking the fortnightly average of benchmark gasoline and rupee-USD rate. "We have updated our system to practically do a daily change in prices but as you know there is lot of volatility in international oil prices as well as rupee-USD forex rates," Butola said.

Gold prices may rise 20% on Dhanteras....

Gold prices may jump further by 20 per cent to touch Rs 32,500 per 10 gram here on 'Dhanteras', a day considered auspicious for buying the precious metal, bullion traders said. Bullion traders expect that high prices would hit sales in volume terms by up to 30 per cent compared to the last 'Dhanteras' sales. "Gold rates have increased by Rs 270 to Rs 32,040 per ten gram today taking strong global cues. Domestic prices are expected to rise by at least Rs 200-300 to touch Rs 32,500 per ten gram.

Sensex rangebound; Shipping Corp, Ashok Leyland up over 5% !!!

The BSE Sensex continued to move in a range around its previous closing value due to lack of local and global cues. Shares of Jindal Steel & Power gained 1.4 percent ahead of second quarter numbers today; Profit after tax is likely to increase 2.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 898 crore in the quarter. The 30-share BSE benchmark fell 16 points to 18,830.42 and the 50-share NSE benchmark was down 5 points to 5,733.45. United Spirits touched 52-week high of Rs 1,425 (gaining 6 percent) as sources say the UB Group-Diageo agreed on financial & management contours and they may may announce deal of stake sale tomorrow. In the second line shares, Shipping Corporation of India surged nearly 6 percent after the company reported a profit of Rs 297 crore in the second quarter of FY13 as against loss of Rs 140 crore in a year ago period. Ashok Leyland rose 5 percent as its September quarter results were significantly ahead of estimates. The company reported a big operational surprise and margins grew 210 basis points QoQ despite tough macro environment.

Gold may trade in range of 31,200-31,500:

Outlook on bullions, base metals and energy segments: Bullions: Bullion counter may remain sideways with upside bias on safe haven demand. Euro zone concerns are expected to keep upside capped. Meanwhile Dollar index can move in range of 80-82 levels. On domestic bourses, gold can trade in range of 31,200-31,500 while silver can trade in range of 59,000-60,500 in near term. Some fresh safe-haven demand is surfacing this week, amid concerns about the approaching U.S. fiscal cliff and about the European Union sovereign debt crisis. The fresh safe-haven demand in the gold market Thursday was further evidenced by very strong demand at a U.S. government treasury note auction at midday. Base metals: Base metals counter may remain on mixed path as some short covering can be seen after recent fall. Copper can trade in range of 413-419 in MCX while Lead can trade in range of 120-122 in MCX while Zinc may trade in range of 103-104.5 while Nickel may also trade in range of 865-885 in MCX and Aluminium can also trade in range of 103.50-105. Copper edged higher on Thursday in cautious trade ahead of a leadership transition in top metals consumer China, which may result in fresh economic stimulus measures, while concerns about weak demand and the U.S. economy capped the upside. Metals prices were pressured as the euro fell to a two-month low after the European Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low and said the euro zone economy showed little sign of recovering before the year-end. Energy: Crude oil can trade in range of 4,550-4,650 in near term. Crude oil ended higher on Thursday, recovering from a steep plunge in the previous session, but gains were only modest as trepidation over Europe`s economy and looming negotiations over the U.S. fiscal cliff weighed on the market. After U.S. President Barack Obama won a second term on Tuesday, anticipation is high that Democrats and Republicans will move quickly to avert the $600 billion package of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that could crush the U.S. economic recovery.Natural gas may remain on volatile note in range of 193-198 in MCX. Disclaimer: IRIS has taken due care and caution in compilation of data for its web site. Information has been obtained by IRIS from sources which it considers reliable. However, IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.