The Russia-Ukraine crisis, along with general bullishness in agricultural commodities, has ensured that after a fairly long time, most of the 24 commodities for which the Centre declares the minimum support price (MSP) are trading above it. The exceptions here are chana or gram and a few varieties of pulses. This might gladden the farmers, especially those who are still holding on to their stocks from the previous kharif harvest or are harvesting the latest rabi crop. But this could stoke retail and wholesale inflation.
HDFC was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, shedding over 3 per cent, followed by Infosys, L&T, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Tech Mahindra.
Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 430 points on Tuesday as investors booked profits in banking and financial stocks after sharp gains in the previous session. Investor focus returned to the Russia-Ukraine war and rising oil prices, traders said. The 30-share BSE gauge ended 435.24 points or 0.72 per cent lower at 60,176.50.
A committee on digitalisation headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had in an interim report recommended taxing cash transactions of at least Rs 50,000 to promote digital payments.
Traders had accumulated stocks when the FM hinted of a duty hike.
The Antiguan prime minister had told Indian government that even criminals have fundamental rights and Choksi, too, has the right to go to court and defend his position, adding, once all legal options are exhausted, he will be extradited.
Local traders are evaluating other options rather in FDI.
Mixed earnings and not so encouraging macroeconomic data dented sentiment, Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said. In twin blows to Indian economic revival, higher food prices drove retail inflation to a five-month high of 7.4 per cent, while factory output fell for the first time in 18 months. The second consecutive month of rise in consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation will add to the pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to again raise interest rates to tame high prices. In the broader market, BSE Midcap declined 0.73 per cent while smallcap dropped 0.45 per cent.
Equity benchmark Sensex slumped over 1,000 points to sink below the 55,000-level on Friday, tracking deep losses in IT, finance, banking and energy stocks amid widespread selling in the global markets. A weak rupee, surging crude prices and relentless foreign capital outflows further weighed on sentiment, traders said. The 30-share BSE index ended 1,016.84 points or 1.84 per cent lower at 54,303.44.
According to sources, all private offices will work from home and only government offices and essential services will be open.
As many as 11 industry bodies related to food and pharma sectors on Thursday alleged that the food regulator FSSAI has become "den of corruption" and demanded a CBI inquiry into the functioning of the authority, which shot to limelight over the Maggi issue.
In this round, the market has won. But it is still for Gautam Adani to decide whether he has lost or not, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'The norm will be even less public accountability, even less transparency, tweets instead of press conferences, TV lectures rather than parliamentary debate, and greater political authoritarianism,' predicts Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
The turmoil, if you read the headlines, is about the so-called funding winter. Deep down, though, the question is one of the common direction in which founders and investors need to pull, points out Suveen Sinha.
