Tuesday April 24, 10:30 AM
Fence-sitting... |
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By Equitymaster.com
After a positive start, investors have chosen to stay on the edges this morning due to apprehensions about the RBI's stance in the monetary policy and several earnings announcements scheduled later this day. While select banking, cement and auto stocks are finding favour, energy and FMCG stocks do not seem to be finding takers.
The BSE Sensex is trading at 13,949 (up 20 points) while the NSE Nifty is trading at 4,088 (up 3 points). The rupee is trading at 41.49 to the dollar.
Banking stocks across the board are in favour in early trades with speculations about the RBI adopting a relatively lenient stance in the Monetary Policy today. The RBI's macroeconomic review released yesterday has estimated the country's real GDP growth to have accelerated from 9% in FY06 to 9.2% in FY07. The acceleration in growth during FY07 was driven by the continued momentum in the services (growth 10.7% YoY) and the manufacturing sector (11.1% YoY), both of which are expected to record double-digit growth going forward. The growth in agriculture and allied activities growth, however, slowed down from 6.0% in FY06 to 2.7% in FY07. Non-food credit expanded by 28% YoY as compared to 32% in FY06 supported by sharp growth in deposits (23% YoY against 18% in FY06). OBC, PNB and Yes Bank (all up 2%) are leading the pack of gainers in the sector.
In the US markets, the benchmark Dow Jones index slipped on Monday after closing at record highs for the last three sessions, amid higher oil prices and some jitters ahead of the upcoming 1QCY07 result announcements. All the three benchmark indices, the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed marginally lower. Crude oil prices strengthened to US$ 66 per barrel. Amongst global markets, while the European markets closed lower yesterday, the Asian indices are currently trading flat to positive.
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