SEBI has asked all stock exchanges to implement daily price bands with reference to the previous day’s closing price instead of the opening price to eliminate any possibility of manipulation in the opening price itself. This was decided at the meeting of the interexchange market surveillance group. In response to the market fluctuation of the past couple of days, the meeting with IEMSG was convened in which the Mumbai, National, Calcutta and Bangalore stock exchanges were represented. The overall market situation and the state of affairs in each exchange was reviewed.

Export slowdown ‘not worrying’

The Economic Adviser in the Commerce Ministry, Dr. VS Bharucha, said there was no need to press panic buttons about the country’s performance on the export front. Addressing a meeting organised here by FICCI on ‘Recent deceleration of India’s exports and the new Exim policy,’ Dr. Bharucha said the new situation had created a lot of benefits and opportunities in international trade and the slowing down of export growth from 20 per cent to 8 per cent in dollar terms should be examined dispassionately.

Deficit financing route suggested

The United Front’s steering committee has shot down the proposals for hiking prices of petro products and levy sugar even as the. Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram, continued to reiterate the TINA (‘there is no alternative’) line. The Finance Minister acknowledged that the projected oil pool account deficit of Rs. 17,000 crores by March this year could be bridged through deficit financing, i.e. borrowings from the RBI. But this was an “undesirable” option as it would result in inflation.

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