Market to remain under pressure

The market is expected to stay under pressure due to subdued trend in Asian equities. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower today. Volatility is expected to remain high.

The Central Committee of the CPI (M) yesterday, 23 August 2007, endorsed the party Politburo's opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal and authorised it to do whatever it can to block the deal. The Politburo had warned the government of serious consequences if it went ahead with negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Suppliers Group.

But the party appeared to have softened its stand regarding withdrawing support to the government as a post meeting statement of the party mentioned that the Central Committee does not want the current crisis to affect the government.

The market's concerns over the past few days have been that it the communist allies of the ruling coalition government at the centre decide to pull their support, the government will be reduced to a minority and that could trigger fresh elections.

As per provisional data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 274.64 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 530.72 crore on Thursday, 23 August 2007.

In Asia, Hang Seng (down 1.34% at 22,659.55), Japan's Nikkei (down 0.33% at 16,262.81), Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted (down 0.43% at 8,695.14), Singapore's Straits Times (down 0.90% at 3,340.60) and South Korea's Seoul Composite (down 1.09% at 1,780.14), edged lower.

However Shanghai Composite surged 1.56% to 5,110.93.

US market ended on flat note yesterday, 23 August 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed almost unchanged today at 13,235.88 marginally down by 0.25 points. Tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 11.1 points to close at 2,541.7. S&P 500 lost 1.57 points to close at 1,462.5.

Oil prices steadied at below $70 a barrel on Friday, 24 August 2007 after Mexico's state oil firm said Gulf oil rigs suffered only minor damage from powerful Hurricane Dean and worries over the subprime mortgage woes in the US weighed. US light crude for October delivery dipped 5 cents at $69.78 a barrel

The BSE 30-share Sensex lost 84.68 points or 0.59% at 14,163.98, on Thursday 23 August 2007. From an all time high of 15,868.85 on 24 July 2007, the BSE Sensex is down 1704.87 points.