Market participants said expectations of a rise in interest rates by the RBI and US Fed's comments on its stimulus programme are likely to keep the market nervous in the week ahead.
While Goldman Sachs says India will see a transition, HSBC feels structural imbalances will lead to cloudy outlook for markets.
The precious metal spurted to regain Rs 27,000 level after June 24 as it rose in global markets following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke backed sustained stimulus for the for some time.
December is packed with key economic and political events, both at the domestic and the global level, which will decide how foreign institutional investors (FIIs) fine tune their investment strategies
The RBI is widely expected to raise its key repo rate by 25 basis points to 8.00 per cent on Wednesday, its third such hike in four months after recent data showed both wholesale and retail inflation at multi-month highs.
There has been a stellar rise for the Indian markets this far in calendar year 2021 (CY21) with the S&P BSE Sensex surging over 19 per cent. The gain in mid-and small-cap indices on the BSE has been sharper with both these indexes surging around 38 per cent and 54 per cent, respectively during this period. Rampant spread of Covid pandemic's Delta variant and the ensuing lockdown and mobility curbs across India, rising prices key commodities, including crude oil and its impact on inflation, possibility of tightening of policy stance by major global central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve (US Fed) have been some of the key headwinds that the markets successfully negotiated during this period.
Uncertainty is emerging as the only certainty, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das as he emphasised on continued policy support at the December MPC meet during which members expressed concerns over spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, as per the minutes of the rate-setting panel released on Wednesday. After three days of deliberations, the six members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on December 8 unanimously voted for status quo on policy rates for the ninth consecutive time. At the meeting, the RBI Governor said risks stalking the global economy have amplified with rapid spread of the virus mutations, including the Omicron variant, leading to countries scrambling for restrictions.
A higher opening in the domestic equity market influenced the rupee uptrend
With the US housing and labour markets on the mend, the healing looks more durable, say RBS's Sanjay Mathur and Louis Kuijs.
The rupee on Thursday plunged by a whopping 130 paise to hit life-time low of 60 against the US dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on strong demand for the American currency from banks and importers
In the latest large opinion poll, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies were forecast to win a narrow majority in the 543-seat lower house of parliament, compared with previous surveys predicting that they would fall short.
The 30-share Sensex closed 80 points lower at 21,753 levels while the 50-unit NSE Nifty index was down 38 points at 6486 levels. Benchmarks plunged to their lowest levels since March 06, 2014.
US Federal Reserve Chairper Janet Yellen hinted at raising interest rates sooner than expected, in her first press conference after assuming the top job at US central bank.
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