Week that was: Politics in limelight; mkt consolidate gains

Moneycontrol Bureau

Stability in the global markets, steady liquidity infusion and easing inflation in the domestic arena consolidated gains for the Indian equity benchmarks throughout the week. While the Nifty touched the psychological support of 5400, the Sensex too extended gains.

As politics occupied centrestage in a curtailed week, the BSE benchmark ended Friday trade at 17183.21 and the Nifty closed at 5386.70, weighed down by weak Asian cues and doubts over Greece's future in the eurozone.  

Going ahead, the economic growth data for the April-June quarter will be eyed closely by the bond and foreign exchange markets.

Here's a quick look at key events this week.

July CPI eases to 9.86%: India's annual consumer price inflation slowed slightly in July to 9.86%, helped by a drop in petrol prices at the pump. However, drought in parts of the country pushed food prices higher. According to experts, the number is not good enough to rejoice.

Gold at record high: Indian spot gold prices hit a record high on Friday, moving above Rs 31000 per 10 gms.

RBI directive for government: The Reserve Bank of India in its annual report made an indication about not cutting rates despite looming growth concerns. In the wake of rising inflation, the Central Bank has decided to fight the menace by keeping rates unchanged in its monetary policy and now it has asked the government to cut its expenditure.

BJP demands PM's resignation over Coalgate:Furore over the alleged coal block allocation scam has brought the Parliament to a standstill for the fourth day as the BJP demanded the Prime Minister's resignation. While BJP MPs threatened to resign, Congress has tried to reach out to the opposition and end the impasse.

Congress clarifies on Coalgate: The opposition's reluctance to debate the coal block allocation issue in parliament led the Congress to resort to a press meet, urging BJP to resume normalcy in the house. Congress is ready to debate the CAG report on the floor as Chidambaram said out of the 57 coal blocks highlighted in the report, only one was producing and "If coal is not mined, if coal remains buried in mother earth, where is the loss?" He further added that a loss will only arise if coal were to be mined and sold at an unacceptable price or value.

Back to work at Manesar: Worker trouble at Maruti's Manesar plant had led to a closure of the factory a month back. It restarted operations on August 21, but production was cut to about one-tenth. Although, around 300 workers reported to work, the management fears suspended workers may create trouble.

Bharti Airtel derating: India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel suffered a setback as Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'neutral' resulting in a four-year low slump for the share. Earlier Goldman Sachs had also downgraded it to neutral from buy, impacting its fortunes in the market to a certain extent. 

Shabnam Mondal

shabnam.mondal@network18online.com