Indian benchmark equity indices are exhibiting
unenthusiastic trends in Friday afternoon trades and have even gone on
to slip into the negative zone, lacking any significant upside cues.
Marketmen continued to indulge in stock specific activity amid a slew of
earnings announcements. Sentiments at large remained cautious as
investors across the globe remained on the edge ahead of this weekend's
European Union summit. Hopes that a solution to the European debt woes
would be unveiled by Sunday were dashed after officials for convened
another summit next week on Wednesday, where French and German will
divulge out further details on the plan. Meanwhile, the European markets
got off to a positive start and are trading with gains of around half a
percent while the Asian counterparts displayed mixed trends. Back home,
on the BSE sectoral front, the rate sensitive Realty and Information
Technology pockets were top laggards in the space as they sank by over
half a percent. On the other hand, the Consumer Durable and Capital
Goods counters showed some resilience and gained by over half a
percent. Moreover, the broader markets traded on a quiet note and were
largely unchanged from previous closing levels in the early afternoon
trades. The bourses consolidated on good volumes of over Rs 0.60 lakh
core, while the market breadth on BSE was in favor of declines in the
ratio of 1333:1180 while 117 scrips remained unchanged.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,903.98 down by 32.91 points or 0.19% after trading as high as 17,032.32 and as low as 16,873.99. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 decline on the index.
The broader indices were trading in the flat terrain; the BSE Mid cap index eased 0.01% and Small cap added 0.08%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Consumer Durables up 0.74%, Capital Goods up 0.58%, Auto up 0.28%, Power up 0.16% and Healthcare up 0.14% were the major gainers while Realty down 0.76%, TECk down 0.53%, IT down 0.42%, Metal down 0.38% and FMCG down 0.07% were the major losers in the space.
Maruti Suzuki up 1.85%, BHEL up 1.68%, Bajaj Auto up 1.62%, SBI up 1.01% and Sun Pharma up 0.92% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while HDFC down 2.01%, DLF down 1.60%, Infosys down 1.36%, NTPC down 1.34% and Bharti Airtel down 1.30% were the major losers on the index.
Meanwhile, citing concerns like towering inflation, slowing manufacturing output and global headwinds, C Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council cautioned that the pace of India's economic expansion could be slower than the forecasts of 8% during the 2012 fiscal year. Rangarajan is also of the belief that reining in inflationary pressure on the economy is the primary responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India.
He further said that not only monetary policy but fiscal measures are also critical in the government's endeavor to tackle inflation and to sustain the growth momentum. On fiscal policy front, the PMEAC Chairman felt that excise duties and service tax can be raised to pre-2008 levels however it would be unwise to do so in the middle of the year. Furthermore, Rangarajan advocated the idea of releasing more foodgrain stocks in the open market in order to ease inflation. The government has allocated 10 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice for the open market scheme.
The PMEAC Chairman also backed RBI's constant rate hikes by stating that 'when inflation is remaining at the level which is way above the comfort level of central bank, in that situation it becomes absolutely essential for the central bank to act.' However, he was of the belief that had the RBI taken more aggressive stance earlier on, they would have by now been able to contain inflation. "RBI took baby steps to contain inflation... Aggressive policy earlier would have been a preferred policy alternative," he said at the Economic Editors' Conference.
The PMEAC gives economic growth estimates twice a year and it earlier had forecasted a GDP growth rate of 8.2% for the fiscal year ending March 2012. Meanwhile, the key economic advisor to the PM admitted that the pace of growth has slowed and told that interest rate hikes were not the only reason for the slowdown and RBI must continue to maintain its anti-inflationary stance.
The PM's top economic advisor' statement came just five days ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review meeting which is scheduled to be held on October 25. Expectations are rife that the RBI may further its liquidity tightening measures in its meeting and hike key interest rates for the thirteenth time since March 2010 to tackle inflation which is continues to hover at elevated levels for a long time now.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,083.50, lower by 8.40 points or 0.16% after trading as high as 5,120.75 and as low as 5,070.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.
Asian markets traded on a mixed note, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.55%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.62%, KLSE Composite eased 0.02% and Nikkei 225 inched down 0.04%,
On the flipside, Hang Seng rose 0.05%, Straits Times climbed 0.65%, Seoul Composite jumped by 1.84% and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.14%.
The European markets traded on a positive note as France's CAC 40 gained 63%, Germany's DAX rose 0.26% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.67%.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 16,903.98 down by 32.91 points or 0.19% after trading as high as 17,032.32 and as low as 16,873.99. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 decline on the index.
The broader indices were trading in the flat terrain; the BSE Mid cap index eased 0.01% and Small cap added 0.08%.
On the BSE sectoral space, Consumer Durables up 0.74%, Capital Goods up 0.58%, Auto up 0.28%, Power up 0.16% and Healthcare up 0.14% were the major gainers while Realty down 0.76%, TECk down 0.53%, IT down 0.42%, Metal down 0.38% and FMCG down 0.07% were the major losers in the space.
Maruti Suzuki up 1.85%, BHEL up 1.68%, Bajaj Auto up 1.62%, SBI up 1.01% and Sun Pharma up 0.92% were the major gainers on the Sensex, while HDFC down 2.01%, DLF down 1.60%, Infosys down 1.36%, NTPC down 1.34% and Bharti Airtel down 1.30% were the major losers on the index.
Meanwhile, citing concerns like towering inflation, slowing manufacturing output and global headwinds, C Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council cautioned that the pace of India's economic expansion could be slower than the forecasts of 8% during the 2012 fiscal year. Rangarajan is also of the belief that reining in inflationary pressure on the economy is the primary responsibility of the Reserve Bank of India.
He further said that not only monetary policy but fiscal measures are also critical in the government's endeavor to tackle inflation and to sustain the growth momentum. On fiscal policy front, the PMEAC Chairman felt that excise duties and service tax can be raised to pre-2008 levels however it would be unwise to do so in the middle of the year. Furthermore, Rangarajan advocated the idea of releasing more foodgrain stocks in the open market in order to ease inflation. The government has allocated 10 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice for the open market scheme.
The PMEAC Chairman also backed RBI's constant rate hikes by stating that 'when inflation is remaining at the level which is way above the comfort level of central bank, in that situation it becomes absolutely essential for the central bank to act.' However, he was of the belief that had the RBI taken more aggressive stance earlier on, they would have by now been able to contain inflation. "RBI took baby steps to contain inflation... Aggressive policy earlier would have been a preferred policy alternative," he said at the Economic Editors' Conference.
The PMEAC gives economic growth estimates twice a year and it earlier had forecasted a GDP growth rate of 8.2% for the fiscal year ending March 2012. Meanwhile, the key economic advisor to the PM admitted that the pace of growth has slowed and told that interest rate hikes were not the only reason for the slowdown and RBI must continue to maintain its anti-inflationary stance.
The PM's top economic advisor' statement came just five days ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review meeting which is scheduled to be held on October 25. Expectations are rife that the RBI may further its liquidity tightening measures in its meeting and hike key interest rates for the thirteenth time since March 2010 to tackle inflation which is continues to hover at elevated levels for a long time now.
The S&P CNX Nifty is currently trading at 5,083.50, lower by 8.40 points or 0.16% after trading as high as 5,120.75 and as low as 5,070.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declines on the index.
The
top gainers on the Nifty were Bajaj Auto up 1.84%, BHEL up 1.76%,
Maruti up 1.60%, Siemens up 1.23% and Dr Reddy's up 1.08%.
HDFC down 1.99%, Cairn down 1.94%, Ambuja Cement
down 1.46%, Tata Steel down 1.38% and BHarti Airtel down 1.29% were the
major losers on the index. Asian markets traded on a mixed note, Shanghai Composite dropped 0.55%, Jakarta Composite shed 0.62%, KLSE Composite eased 0.02% and Nikkei 225 inched down 0.04%,
On the flipside, Hang Seng rose 0.05%, Straits Times climbed 0.65%, Seoul Composite jumped by 1.84% and Taiwan Weighted rose 0.14%.
The European markets traded on a positive note as France's CAC 40 gained 63%, Germany's DAX rose 0.26% and Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.67%.
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