Plan to set up 350 more branches by next March

Chennai, Mar 28 (PTI) Private sector Axis Bank plans to set up 350 branches in the 2011-12 fiscal to take its products and services to more customers across the country, a top bank official said here today.
"Axis Bank is focused on taking its products and services into the farthest corners of the country. The Bank, to grow its network plans to open 350 branches across the country by this fiscal end and we are well on course to achieve the target", Axis Bank Deputy Managing Director S K Chakrabarti said in a statement.
By end of this fiscal, ending March 31, Axis Bank would have 1,300 branches and over 5,900 ATMs across the country.
Chakrabarti said the bank plans to open 22 branches in Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of branches to 124 by this month end.
Currently, Axis Bank has a customer base of 1.50 crore. Its market capitalisation as of March 28 was Rs 56,711 crore.
The bank also has a presence in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai.

Sensex hits 19,000 mark, Nifty crosses 5,700

The Indian markets seem in no mood to relent and buckle under global pressure. The BSE benchmark index hit the 19,000 level in early trade today while the Nifty crossed the 5,700 mark.
Frontliner stocks, Hero Honda, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Communications, Bajaj Auto, Suzlon Energy, ONGC, L&T, SBI, Wipro, HCL Tech and Bharti Airtel led the markets higher.
The Wall Street closed lower in trade yesterday, while Asian markets continue to slip as the nuclear and supply concerns soured market sentiment.
In early trade, today the Asian markets have been a mixed bag with the Nikkei down 1.51% and the Shanghai composite shed 0.62%. The silver lining, however, is that crude prices have begun abating and analysts believe the markets are unlikely to plummet once crude prices stabilize.
The Sensex, however  is still down 7.6 percent in 2011, weighed down by foreign funds' withdrawal of $1.7 billion from Indian equities.

5682-5692 crucial level for Nifty today:

The Nifty is above 200 DMA, how crucial is that and could this really be the turning point?

We tested the 200 day simple moving average yesterday and closed just below that, and today the crucial levels would be 5682 to about 5692. The Nifty needs to sustain above this 10-point range. Even if there was to be an initial dip, it must move up to suggest that there would be an upswing further. But going forward, there is a minor resistance at 5710 to 5715, and a huge resistance between 5740 and 5760 levels. I would, however, not like to write an obituary of this short-term uptrend just now for the simple reason if you look at the March 5700 puts, they have added 23,59,100 shares yesterday and this kind of put writing 5700, the closing is below that, yet 23,60,000 shares have been written and the premium is a poultry, 40.4, that means you have a very small premium, yet you have written such puts.

Therefore, there is an expectation that the market can move up from here and I would not like to ride the momentum so early. So, there is a possibility that you can fall to 5660 to about 5640, but unless you fall below 5660 decisively, you are not going much down and if you go further down 5620, there could be a short-term top around 1st or 4th of April as there would be auto numbers coming up then. After that, this humungous upswing that we have seen in the past five days might well be corrected. Now, there could be a minor consolidation, bias still is up but there is a possibility of a throw back corrective swing on the downside.

Brent falls for 3rd day as Libyan rebels advance; heads towards $114

SINGAPORE: Brent crude fell for a third day running on Tuesday as Libyan rebels gained ground against embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi , boosting expectations supplies from the nation may be restored quicker than expected.

Rebels, emboldened by Western-led air strikes against Gaddafi's troops, have regained control of key oil ports and advanced West. The progress comes as more than 40 governments and international organisations meet on Tuesday in London to try to lay the groundwork for a Libya without Gaddafi.

Brent crude futures for May delivery edged down 59 cents to $114.21 a barrel at 0420 GMT. U.S. May crude futures fell for a fourth day, losing 57 cents to $103.41.

Brent's premium to the U.S. benchmark hovered near $11, after narrowing from a March 1 record above $17.

"There's talk in the market about oil supply from Libya being restored quicker than anticipated," said Ben Westmore, a commodities analyst at National Australia Bank.

"But we haven't had any news that the bombings have significantly abated, so it could be a very short-term reaction."

Qatar became the first Arab country to recognise Libya's rebels, according to a Monday report by the Qatari state news agency, a day after a senior Libyan rebel official said Qatar had agreed to market crude oil produced from east Libyan fields that Gaddafi no longer controls.

A U.S. Treasury official said rebels could sell Libyan crude free from sanctions imposed against transactions with Gaddafi's government.

Ongoing fighting and concerns over U.S. and United Nations sanctions are likely to keep crimping Libya's output, rebel leaders, oil traders and analysts said.

SUPPLY RISES

Top exporter Saudi Arabia unexpectedly called on oilfield service firms to expand its oil rig count, gearing up to boost output.

"I don't think that has a big impact on the market in the short term," Westmore said. "Any increase to exploration I would take as wanting to keep spare capacity" in the long term.

Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco met with leading oil service companies including Halliburton over the weekend, unveiling plans to boost the country's rig count this year and next to 118, from around 92 now, Simmons & Co analyst Bill Herbert wrote in a research note.

To make up for lost output in Libya, members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Angola, have unilaterally boosted output, the U.A.E's OPEC governor said.

Crude oil stocks are also likely to rise in the United States last week, keeping with seasonal trends, a preliminary Reuters survey of analysts showed.

Higher imports are expected to meet demand as refiners bring units back from maintenance, analysts said.

Nifty above 5700; RCom, Sesa Goa, Bharti lead

MUMBAI: Benchmarks moved higher for sixth straight session as foreign institutional investors were back in the market. Technology, auto and power stocks led the upmove while realty space was a little subdued. Trade may turn choppy as the session progresses due to lack of cues from Asian peers.

"Five days of positive action on the bourses has seen the Nifty cross the 200-DMA in intraday trade though it ended just shy of it. The Nifty could finish above the critical technical level today but any upside won't be without hiccups. Global cues are mixed. The start is likely to be a subdued one on account of the overnight fall in the US market and weakness in the Asian benchmarks.

The encouraging part is that FII inflows - a major catalyst for Indian markets - have picked up in the past few days. Yet, beware of volatility ahead of the year-end tax adjustments and F&O expiry. On the whole, the undertone for the Indian market is likely to remain upbeat as long as the Nifty sustains above 5600. The next big obstacle is seen around 5750.

Banks and IT titans could pace the rally from here on. Keep an eye on Reliance Industries . Telecom shares might be back in the spotlight as the CBI gets ready to file chargesheet in the 2G scam on March 31," said IIFL report.

At 9:55 am; National Stock Exchange's Nifty was at 5728.05, up 40.80 points or 0.72 per cent. The broader index touched a high of 5728.50 and low of 5680.70 in early trade.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was at 19108.32, up 165.18 points or 0.87 per cent. The 30-share index touched a high of 19111.78 and low of 18944.82 in trade so far.

BSE Midcap Index was up 0.57 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 0.56 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE IT Index was up 0.97 per cent, BSE Auto Index gained 0.88 per cent and BSE Power Index moved 0.85 per cent higher. BSE Realty Index was down 0.46 per cent.

Reliance Communications (3.61%), Sesa Goa (2.89%), Bharti Airtel (2.66%), Hero Honda (2.43%) and Reliance Infrastructure (2.20%) were the top Nifty gainers.

DLF (-0.79%), Jaiprakash Associates (-0.79%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (-0.46%), Tata Motors (-0.43%) and Cairn India (-0.25%) were amongst the losers.

Meanwhile the Asian markets were witnessing rangebound session. Nikkei was down 0.47 per cent lower, Hang Seng was up 0.10 per cent and Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.18 per cent.

As per provisional data of March 28, FIIs bought equities worth Rs 890 crore in the cash market and were net buyers of Rs 902 crore in the F&O market. Domestic institutions, meanwhile, were net sellers of Rs 287 crore in the cash market.