Global mkts in red; will Nifty slide below 5800?

Concerns of rising interest rates and a further deterioration in macro-economic fundamentals prompted investors to book profits with the benchmark indices shedding 3 percent.

The Sensex fell 536.44 points or 2.65 percent on Friday to close at 19727.27 and the Nifty lost 179 points to 5833.20 in the week. However, September futures & options series was the best in 2013 with equity benchmarks gaining 9 percent.

US Markets

It is the last day for the US Congress to pass a Budget in the absence of which the government will face a shutdown for the first time in 17 years. The House of Representatives votes to delay US President Barack Obama's pet healthcare law for a year. The question now is if a 13th hour deal will materialise.

In US, markets finished in the red on Friday with major averages closing lower for the first week in four, as mounting concerns of a potential government shutdown spook Wall Street.

The CBOE volatility index jumped above 15. The Dow has lost 1.25 percent and the S&P 500 lost over a percent while Nasdaq managed to end with minor gains.

Asian Markets

As the clock ticks on the US debt ceiling debate, investors cash out sending Asian markets skidding this morning with Nikkei down over 2 percent. China's final manufacturing PMI from HSBC is also due later in the session.

New banking licences

After reviewing the Reserve Bank’s guidelines on new banking licence, the standing committee on finance has said business houses should not be given the licence. It has also said that the fit-and-proper criteria is ambiguous and wants the minimum capital requirement to be doubled to Rs 1000 crore.

The NSEL saga

Even as investors lash out against National Spot Exchange Lmited (NSEL) and plan a day's boycott on trading on MCX, the exchange has issued a circular on e-series settlement and said that it will offer a fast exit route to unit holders of e-series.

And finally some good news!

In its reply to the Delhi High Court on Subramaniam Swamy's petition, the aviation ministry is ready to back its decision to pave the way for AirAsia. Sources have said that the company hopes to start operations latest by January 2014. Futhermore, Tony Fernandes has tweeted saying he has no issues with the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture.

Other asset classes

In the currency space the euro is taking a knock sub 1.35 against the dollar. The dollar too has slumped to 80.30 levels and the yen trades at a 1-month high of 97 against the dollar.

In commodities, Brent Crude fell in volatile trading on Friday as diplomatic strides on Iran's nuclear program and Syria's chemical weapons drained geopolitical risk premium from the markets.

From precious metals space gold settled more than 1 percent higher on Friday as wrangling over the US Budget and jitters over the outlook for Federal Reserve policy stoked buying interest.