Equity benchmarks maintained their upward momentum during the week, rising 2% over last Friday. A glance at the events and developments that ruled sentiment during the week.
Macro:
December exports up 6.7% to $25 billion, trade deficit (exports-minus imports) for April-December soars to $133 billion, and seen touching $160 billion by March.
Core sector growth in December at a tepid 3.1%, indicating that the recovery in the November index of industrial production may have been an aberration.
Finance ministry advisor Kaushik Basu sees inflation for FY12 between 6.5-6.8%, says economy is turning around.
Rupee continues to rise against the dollar, hits three month high of 48.68, driven by strong FII inflows, weakness in dollar relative to other economies.
Growth in household savings declines to 13.7% in 2010-11, compared to 21% the previous fiscal, mainly due to high inflation.
Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing hits 7-month high of 57.5 in January.
Liquidity pressure persists despite cut in cash reserve ratio, RBI resorts to open market operations to infuse liquity.
Policy:
The Supreme Court on Friday cancelled 122 2G telecom licences issued after January 2008, saying that norms were flouted while awarding them to companies. Uninor, Loop DB Etisalat, Sistema Shyam among worst affected. No clarity yet on refund on licence fee.
The spectrum available as a result of the cancellation of the licences, will be auctioned, earning much needed revenues to the cash-strapped government.
Micro:
Under pressure from power industry, Coal India rolls back recent price hikes. Also, the company's wage bill to rise 25% from the new financial year starting April, following a salary revision agreement with the trade unions.
ICICI Bank's third quarter numbers better than market expectations. But capital goods companies disappoint. Quarterly numbers from BHEL, Crompton Greaves, Siemens and Thermax below market expectations.
Tata Motors, Maruti and M&M report strong January sales, but two-wheeler majors like Bajaj Auto, Hero and TVS fail to impress.
Gold loan firms Muthoot Finance and Manappuram Finance report strong growth in third quarter net profit.
Carlyle sells part of its stake in HDFC, Warburg Pincus trims stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Core Education leads race to pick up Rakesh Jhunjhunwala's stake in Aptech.
Jet Airways shares firm up as prices of aviation turbine fuel cut by 3%.
