MARKETS CONTINUE TO FALL

Tuesday's session saw Indian benchmark indices complete a hat-trick of disappointing performances and reaching the finishing line only after collapsing by over one and half a percent. The wave of deteriorating global economic conundrum along with double dip recession jitters ruthlessly bludgeoned Indian frontline indices as it invigorated the bears which went out of control and dragged the key gauges even below the psychological 4,800 and 15,900 levels. The bourses were caught amid the pandemonium of relentless risk aversion after Euro-zone finance ministers' postponed a key decision on crucial bailout loans for Greece while international auditors continued their inspection of the country's troubled finances. The European finance ministers' meeting was expected to approve the next 8 bn euro bailout scheduled for 13 October but has been delayed for now. The European stock markets got off to a gap down beginning and were trading with nasty cuts in the range of 2-3.50% while the Asian counterparts too settled on a bleak note with huge losses. On the domestic front, sentiments got undermined after global ratings firm Moody's downgraded State Bank of India's rating by one notch to 'D+' because of the lender's low Tier-I capital ratio and deteriorating asset quality. Moreover, investors also overlooked reports that India's foreign direct investment inflow surged by 127.8% to $2.83 billion in August 2011, an over two-fold jump from $1.33 billion compared to that in the same month last year. However, the shares from the fertilizers counter showed some resilience in the session after reports showed that the Prime Minister`s Office (PMO) has asked the fertilizer ministry to accelerate the process of urea decontrol. Stocks like Coromandel International, Chambal fertilizer, National Fertilizers settled on a positive note.
Earlier on Dalal Street, the benchmark got off to a weak start as the indices breached the psychological 4,850 and 16,100 levels in the early moments of trade since investors largely remained influenced by the pessimistic sentiments prevailing in Asian markets. Thereafter, the key indices failed to show any kind of fervor due to lack of encouraging leads. The key gauges traded on a lackluster note for most part of the morning trades. Just when it looked like the local indices would go on to outperform global indices, sentiments got spooked in early afternoon trades following the sell-off in European markets. The sharp cut dragged key indices to intraday lows of around 15,750 and 4,720 levels post which some short covering helped the indices to settle off the day's lows. Eventually the NSE's 50-share broadly followed index Nifty, took a cut of over one and half a percent to settle above the crucial 4,750 support level while Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensitive Index Sensex slipped by close to three hundred points and closed above the psychological 15,850 mark. Moreover, the broader markets, which showed some resilience early on, too succumbed to the selling pressure and closed with losses of over a percent. On the BSE sectoral space, the rate sensitive - Bankex and Auto pockets remained among top laggards in the space as they got lacerated by 3.09% and 1.94% respectively. While sectors like PSU and Oil & Gas too got pounded heavily in the session. On the flipside, Capital goods pocket managed to go home with moderate gains of around half a percent. The markets got dragged on weaker volumes of over Rs 0.91 lakh crore while the turnover for NSE F&O segment too remained on the lower side as compared to Monday at over 0.81 lakh core as it was the third day of a new F&O series. The market breadth remained pessimistic as there were 985 shares on the gaining side against 1762 shares on the losing side while 125 shares remained unchanged.
Finally, the BSE Sensex shaved off 286.59 points or 1.77% to settle at 15,864.86, while the S&P CNX Nifty plunged by 77.35 points or 1.60% to close at 4,772.15.
The BSE Sensex touched a high and a low of 16,202.38 and 15,745.43 respectively. The BSE Mid cap and Small cap index were down by 1.28% and 1.09% respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up 2.73%, L&T up 1.42%, Wipro up 1.00%, Tata Steel up 0.65% and BHEL up 0.45%. While, Coal India down 4.98%, ICICI Bank down 4.59%, Tata Motors down 4.35%, SBI down 4.08% and Mahindra & Mahindra down 3.89% were the major losers on the index.
The only gainer in the BSE sectoral space was Capital Goods (CG) up 0.57%. However Bankex down 3.09%, Auto down 1.94%. PSU down 1.77%, Oil & Gas down 1.74% and Metal down 1.48% were top losers on BSE sectoral space.
Meanwhile, India's foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow surged by 127.8% to $2.83 billion in August 2011, an over two-fold jump from $1.33 billion compared to that in the same month last year.
The FDI inflow in the month of July had declined by 38% after the jump in April-June. In month of June, FDI inflows had surged by 310% to 11-year record of $5.65 billion, whereas in May it had increased by 111% to $4.66 billion compared to the same month of last year. Whereas, in April it had jumped by 43% to $3.121 billion from $2.179 billion in April 2010.
The FDI inflow in the first five months of current financial year, 2011-12 increased by 95% to $17.37 billion from $8.89 billion in the April-August 2010. Experts are of the view that, despite the slowdown in the international economies, the FDI inflows are expected to reach $35 billion in current financial year compared to $19.4 billion in the 2010-11 and $25.6 billion in 2009-10. During 2008-09, the FDI inflow stood at $27.3 billion.
In April-August 2011, the sectors which received maximum FDI are services, construction activities, power, computers and hardware, telecommunications and housing and real estate. The major sources of FDI are Mauritius, Singapore, the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE.
The S&P CNX Nifty touched high and low of 4,869.75 and 4,728.30, respectively.

The top gainers on the Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up 2.57%, L&T up 2.11%, Wipro up 1.97%, BHEL up 0.78%, and Siemens up 0.78%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down 4.85%, ICICI Bank down 4.43%, M&M down 4.31%, SBI down 3.63% and Jindal Steel down 3.48% were the top losers on the index.

The European markets were trading in red. France's CAC 40 lost 2.95%, Britain's FTSE declined by 2.23%, and Germany's DAX plunged by 2.95%.
All the Asian equity indices barring Taiwan Weighted finished the day's trade in the negative terrain on Tuesday as fears grow that Greece will default and the euro-zone debt crisis will spread. Euro-zone finance ministers late Monday said they would once again delay releasing a much-needed eight billion euros to Greece to help it meet its debt obligations. Hong Kong shares tumbled for a third straight session and the index snapped the trade with a cut of about three and a half percent as weakness in mainland oil producers and property names dragged the Hang Seng Index to a 2-1/2 year low ahead of a public holiday on Wednesday, moreover, the Nikkei stock average dropped to a six and a half month low as a sell-off in commodities pushed trading houses lower and the financial sector was pressured by fears that Europe's debt crisis is spreading. However, stock markets in China remained closed on Tuesday in observance of a public holiday and the country's markets will be shut throughout the week for holidays.