Markets to get a cautious start of the new week

The Indian markets ended the month of November on an optimistic note, extending their gains for the fourth straight day. Today, though the mood remains upbeat but the start may remain cautious and the markets may slowly gain momentum as the trade proceeds. Marketmen will be keeping track the outcome of the vote in Parliament later in the week on whether foreign chains should be allowed to set up retail stores in the country. The pharma sector too is likely to remain buzzing as ahead of the discussion in Parliament on FDI in retail slated to begin on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will formalise the pharmaceutical FDI policy guidelines at a meeting today. However, there will be some concern related to a private survey which has said that corporate India’s confidence level has declined in the second quarter of the current financial year on account of unfavourable business environment. Auto stocks will be in action based on their monthly sales performance.There would be other lots of scrip specific actions too, to keep the markets buzzing. It has been reported that Bharti Airtel is trying to get a South African partner again, while Kalanithi Maran, the major promoter of SpiceJet planning, has decided to increase his stake by five per cent to infuse Rs 184 crore in the airline.

The US markets ended flat on Friday amid the delay in budget negotiations, while on economic front consumer spending unexpectedly fell and the incomes remained flat in October. The Asian markets have made a mixed start, though the indices trading in red are slowly recovering after the report that Chinese manufacturing, expanded last month, signaling recovery in the region.

Indian markets showed no sign of giving up on Friday and extended their relentless bull run for the third straight day. Starting again with a minor gap-up, markets traded strength-to-strength to reach their new high for the year. While, in last session blue-chips hogged the limelight, this time the broader indices too traded with good traction. The markets slightly faltered after the release of the GDP data but soon recovered after the Finance Minister P Chidambaram clarified that it was mainly due to scanty rainfall and poor showing by the manufacturing sector. The GDP numbers slowed down to 5.3 percent in the July-September quarter versus 5.5 percent in last quarter and 6.7 percent in same quarter last year. The numbers despite being lower were in-line to the street expectation and traders are of the opinion that the growth is bottoming and will see an improvement from here. The global cues were mostly positive as the US markets ended in green on some positive economic reports and on hopes that the government will reach a deal on fiscal cliff, while the Asian markets mostly ended in green as Japan’s cabinet approved a second economic stimulus package and the nations’ industrial production unexpectedly increased. Back home, the trade remained firm for the Indian markets on Friday and the new series was greeted with gain of about a percent. After the knee-jerk reaction of the dismal GDP numbers, markets once again resumed the gaining streak as weak GDP data raised hopes for some monetary easing at the next RBI meeting on December 18. Sentiments got boosted with the finance minister P Chidambaram’s statement that the government has proposed the setting up of a National Investment Board (NIB) to monitor and advise ministries on expediting projects entailing investments in excess of Rs 1,000 crore, as over 100 projects, each involving investment of Rs 1,000 crore or more, have been delayed for various reasons. On street, the day remained for the broader markets that kept outperforming the benchmarks since beginning and snapped the session with decent gains. On sectoral front, metal outpaced it’s all other peers and gained over 2% on BSE. Power too remained in jubilant mood after the Power Minister demanded Rs 36,000 crore for meeting the 12th plan targets of providing  electricity to 5,74,000 rural households. PSU index too was in flavor along with rate sensitive banking. However, auto suffered some profit booking in last, while FMCG and realty too witnessed marginal cuts. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 168.99 points or 0.88% to settle at 19,339.90, while the S&P CNX Nifty rose by 54.85 points or 0.94% to end at 5,879.85.