The local market made a promising start on Wednesday as a higher Asian market raised optimism about increase in inflow of foreign funds, giving investors a reason to buy in the distressed market. All sectoral indices on the BSE were trading on the higher side. IT, realty and metal stocks were bought the most.

Investors are worried that economy is punishing the earnings of companies. Though the market has made a better start today, cautiousness will continue to exist as analysts’ have already lowered expectations and results will fall well short. Also, common investors will refrain from putting a major part of their hard earned money in stocks as they are well aware that markets these days change colors within no time. In better words, they know that unpredictability is the hallmark of a bear market.

The market breadth on the BSE was good with 70% stocks on the higher side. 397 advances were seen against 163 declines. 11 stocks remained unchanged.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 201.06 points or 2.22% at 9,272.42. The index touched a high and a low of 9,275.37 and 9,207.52, respectively.

TCS up 4.25%, Jaiprakash Associates up 3.96%, RCom up 3.57%, Rel Infra up 3.54% and Hindalco up 3.5% were the main gainers on the Sensex.

On the other hand, Hindustan Unilever down 0.1%, Tata Power down 0.08%, Maruti Suzuki down 0.04% and Sun Pharma down 0.04% were the major losers on the benchmark.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of Rs 345.78 crore (provisional) in the cash segment on Tuesday, as per information available on the BSE website. While FIIs made gross purchases of Rs 1,598.79 crore, their gross sales amounted to Rs 1,944.57 crore.

The BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 1.18% and 0.7%, respectively.

Binani Cement was trading at Rs 32.2 per share, up 2.88%. The company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Gujarat for setting up an Rs 825 crore greenfield cement plant with a capacity of 2.5 mtpa in Junagadh.

GAIL India was up Rs 209 per share, up 1.51%. The company is planning to set up a compressed natural gas (CNG) corridor across the country with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore by 2012-13. The company has identified 230 cities for retailing CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households.

Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone (MPSEZL) has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Gujarat government for expansion and development of new facilities at Mundra. The company’s stock was trading at Rs 373.9 per share, up 5.59%.

All sectors on the BSE were trading in the positive zone.

IT up 3.31%, Realty up 3.15%, Metal up 3.13%, Oil & Gas up 2.96% and TECk up 2.52% were the main gainers in the sectoral space on the BSE.

The broader S&P CNX Nifty was up 1.88% at 2796.45. The index touched a high and a low of 2799.95 and 2748.40, respectively.

Infosys, up 4.22%, was the main gainer, while National Aluminium, down 2.74%, was the main loser on the Nifty.

The aftermath of the Satyam fiasco has led the apex body Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to seek recommendation of regulators of mutual funds and insurance industry – the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) – in the appointment of auditors in asset management companies (AMCs) and private insurers.

Keeping the move on a go, the ICAI has decided to pen letters to IRDA and SEBI, urging them to adopt a system similar to the one followed for appointment of auditors in public sector banks (PSBs).

Asian markets were trading higher on Wednesday as stocks bounced back after sell-off seen in the past couple of days. However, cautiousness over the global economic slowdown and worries about bleak earnings results continued to exist in the market.

Shanghai Composite was up 1.45%, Hang Seng gained 1.43%, Nikkei 225 rose 0.09%, Straits Times surged 1.14%, Seoul Composite soared 0.48% and Taiwan Weighted soared 0.07%.

Wall Street has lost some of the enthusiasm that powered its late 2008 rally. The Dow Jones industrial average has taken the biggest hit, falling for five straight days as investors questioned whether they got ahead of themselves when they bet in December that the economy and corporate profits were about to recover.

Worries about earnings sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 25.41 points, or 0.30%, to 8,448.56 on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.53 points, or 0.18%, to 871.79, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 7.67, or 0.50%, to 1,546.46.

Crude futures halted a weeklong price slide on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia’s announcement that it would cut production further, if needed. The rally was also supported by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke assurance that the stimulus package could provide a ’significant boost’ to the sinking US economy.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 19 cents to settle at $37.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling to $36.10 earlier, a new low for the year.