Market may recover in volatile trade

Key benchmark indices may see some respite today, 13 October 2008 after posting biggest weekly loss ever, boosted by worldwide measures to support markets amid the global financial turmoil. Wall Street futures indicated a sharp surge ahead of the opening bell on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial futures jumped 235 points and the Nasdaq futures added 22 points. However high volatility may not be ruled out.

On Friday, 10 October 2008, the US President George Bush along with the finance ministers of seven of the world's most powerful economies in the White House Rose Garden pledged to work together to resolve the crisis that has paralyzed global markets. Bush said that they will do what it takes to resolve this crisis so that the world's economy will emerge stronger. The G-7 countries pledged to act in concert in five areas including expanding bank deposit insurance, providing capital to shaky financial institutions and developing better asset accounting rules.

The Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram will make a statement on the market situation today, 13 October 2008.

The Reserve Bank of India chief Duvvuri Subbarao on Friday, 10 October 2008 said that India may escape the worst consequences of the global financial crisis due to its strong internal drivers for growth but money, debt and credit markets may be impacted indirectly.

Meanwhile in the midst of the largest financial crisis in recent times, India and the US triumphantly signed the 123 agreement on Friday, 10 October 2008, to open up sales of civilian nuclear technology to India for the first time in three decades. This ends India’s nuclear isolation and capping the three-year dramatic journey of the nuclear deal. The deal offers India access to US technology and cheap atomic energy in return for allowing UN inspections of some of its civilian nuclear facilities -- but not military nuclear sites.

Asian markets were trading mixed today, 13 October 2008. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 1.85% or 36.94 points at 1,963.62, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.13% or 2.54 points at 1,945.79, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted plunged 3.05% or 156.26 points at 4,974.45. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.84% or 124 point at 14,920.87 and South Korea's Seoul Composite gained 1.41% or 17.46 points at 1,258.93

US markets ended mixed on Friday, 13 October 2008 after a rollercoaster session. The Dow saw its biggest point swing ever, a 1000 point swing. It recovered from a 697 points tumble and rose as much as 322 points in the last hour as an industry group said the bankruptcy auction of Lehman Brothers' debt won't worsen credit losses. The Dow plunged 128 points, or 1.49%, to 8,451.49 and the S&P 500 index lost 10.70 points or 1.18%, to 899.22. However the Nasdaq Composite index gained 4.39 points, or 0.27%, to 1,649.51.

Back home, the bourses suffered heavy losses on Friday, 10 October 2008 on the back of global sell-off and on data showing dismal industrial production growth in August 2008. The BSE 30-share Sensex ended down 800.51 points or 7.07% to 10,527.86 and the S&P CNX Nifty was down 233.70 points or 6.65% to 3,279.95, on that day.

A global sell-off triggered the biggest weekly fall for Indian indices since 1990. Fears the deepening credit crisis will push the global economy into recession, rattled stock markets across the globe. The BSE 30-share Sensex slumped 1,998.47 points or 15.95% to 10,527.85 in the week ended Friday, 10 October 2008. The S&P CNX Nifty was down 538.35 points or 14.09% to 3279.95 in the week.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net equity sellers worth Rs 2513.74 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 1744.68 crore on Friday, 10 October 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 161.80 crore in the futures & options segment on Friday, 10 October 2008. They were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 8.47 crore while bought index options worth Rs 32.26 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 142.70 crore while sold stock options worth Rs 4.69 crore.