No collateral damage on the Street

"Our best built certainties are but sand-houses and subject to damage from any wind of doubt that blows" - Mark Twain.

The spell of unseasonal rains persists in many parts of the nation, so does the string of bad news (mostly external). WPI inflation, especially food inflation, has moderated lately. But, the untimely showers could do some damage to the harvested kharif crops, potentially pushing up food prices.



The sabre rattling by North Korea sent shockwaves across global markets, prompting investors to turn risk averse. South Korean stocks and bonds are down, while the won has sunk to a two-month low.

Stocks in the US, Europe and other markets tumbled overnight amid a spate of grim developments. However, there is a silver lining; shares in China and Hong Kong have rallied and the Kospi in Seoul too has recovered from session lows.

We may see the Indian market extending the previous session’s intra-day recovery at least at start. The key indices could rise further if the global markets recover. But, beware of intra-day gyrations ahead of Thursday's F&O expiry. The best way to ride the current wave of uncertainty is to stay light and not be adventurous.

The US financial markets are closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday while they are only open for a half day on Friday.

FIIs were net sellers of Rs 14.93bn in the cash segment on Tuesday (provisionally), according to the NSE web site. Local funds were also net buyers of Rs 15.02bn. In the F&O segment, the foreign funds were net buyers