Weak global cues may trigger lower start

Key benchmark indices are likely to open lower tracking weak global cues. Moreover India's exports declined in October 2008, for the first time in five years, due to the global slowdown.

For the first time in the last five years, in October 2008, there has been a decline of over 15% in exports in dollar terms, the Director General of Foreign Trade R S Gujral said on Monday, 10 November 2008. Barring the export of the petroleum products, there has been a decline of over 20%. Growth in April-October 2008 has been 21.5%, down from 30.9% for the April-September 2008 period. The final export figures for October 2008 will be released in the first week of December 2008.

US light, sweet crude for December 2008 delivery fell $1.91 or 3% to $60.50 a barrel today, 11 November 2008 as a firmer dollar and renewed gloom over the global economy.

Asian markets were trading lower today, 11 November 2008. China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.53% or 10 points at 1,864.81, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 2.89% or 426.38 points at 14,318.25, Japan's Nikkei plunged 3.30% or 299.98 points at 8,781.45, Singapore's Straits Times fell 2.34% or 44.18 points at 1,840.84, South Korea's Seoul Composite lost 1.87% or 21.55 points at 1,130.91 and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted tumbled 2.71% or 128.23 points at 4,612.04.

US markets dropped on Monday, 10 November 2008 as a worsening outlook for companies from Goldman Sachs to Google overshadowed China's $ 586 billion stimulus plan and pledges by the world's biggest nations to bolster economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 73.27 points, or 0.82%, to 8,870.54. The S&P 500 index declined 11.78 points, or 1.27%, to 919.21, and the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 30.66 points, or 1.86%, to 1,616.74.

Back home, unabated buying in blue chips throughout the day triggered a solid rally on Monday, 10 November 2008 after China's massive economic stimulus plan raised expectations that authorities elsewhere would follow suit. The BSE Sensex surged 571.87 points or 5.74%, to 10,536.16 and the S&P CNX Nifty advanced 175.25 points or 5.89%, to settle at 3148.25, on that day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers worth Rs 92.33 crore while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 377.66 crore on Monday, 10 November 2008, according to provisional data on NSE.