Market in a Minute

The market mood stayed more or less buoyant throughout the week, backed by good macro indicators. Here's some of the buzz from the studio:

Aditi : January is shaping up to be a great month so far. Markets have held on to the optimistic note on which they began the year. The Sensex has risen about 700 points since the start of this month.

Vikram : Well, the Nifty too has closed at its highest level in over a month. Markets have gleefully latched on to lower food prices for the last week of December and better manufacturing numbers. This is the second week in a row that the food inflation index dipped, this time by 3.4 per cent. Plus, the IIP went up 5.9 per cent for November, well above most expectations.

Aditi : Some faith seems to be seeping back, I suppose. The Government has allowed 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail, which it had put on hold. That's led to hope that foreign investment in multi-brand retail will follow suit. How far-fetched that hope is, I don't know.

Vikram : Whether or not you believe it, markets certainly do. You'd think they would've finished with FDI and its effects the first time the ruling came about. But no, Provogue jumped 15 per cent for the week, Shoppers Stop and Trent went up 6 per cent. And Lovable Lingerie shot up 20 per cent in a single day.

Aditi : FDI talk also seems to have helped airline stocks. News is that a Group of Ministers will meet to allow foreign entities to pick up stakes in Indian airlines, after the Committee of Secretaries recommended it.

Vikram : Oh yes! The stocks of Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet have jumped 19 to 25 per cent over the week.

Aditi : There was a blip in the positivity though. Infosys came out with its December quarter numbers and guidance for the rest of this fiscal and, boy, was it disastrous! The stock fell 9 per cent by the end of the week. The BSE IT index dropped 7 per cent.

Vikram : Infosys actually beat earnings estimates. It delivered a 15 per cent sequential growth in revenues and a 24 per cent rise in net profits for the December quarter. It was the flat guidance for the March '12 quarter that disappointed investors.

Aditi : Well, the earnings season is now upon us. TCS and HCL Tech will announce results next week as will HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Hero Motocorp and Baja Auto, to name a few.

Vikram : Markets have been building in low earnings expectations. Reactions to low earnings cannot be too drastic. At least, I hope not.

Aditi : We also have to see how S&P's downgrade of France and Austria from their coveted triple-A status, not to mention downgrading seven other European countries affects our markets.

Vikram : Global markets didn't react too harshly to the downgrades since it was widely expected. Hopefully, our markets will stay the same way.

COMMENT NOW