Wobbly at start!

Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing. - Lucius Seneca.

While the harvest festival is being celebrated in some parts of our country, political leaders around the globe are under pressure to sow some seeds to accelerate the ongoing recovery from the financial crisis.

US President Obama has proposed yet another stimulus to boost growth in a sluggish economy. The question is will his plans pass in the Congress? Even if some of them do, will they have the desired effect? Nobody has a clue right now.



Meanwhile, Fed chief Bernanke hasn’t offered anything new, perhaps postponing it to this month’s FOMC meet.

Back home, the Government has its hands full with a slew of challenges – both economic and political. With Sonia Gandhi back from surgery there are hopes of some decisive response soon.

The start looks a bit indecisive, as investors digest a whole host of news. Asian stocks are mostly up. European indices managed slender gains while US benchmarks ended lower.

Inflation in China has slowed in August though the results are above forecast.

After the recent gains, the Nifty could consolidate near 5100 levels before attempting to breach 5225.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) are scheduled to meet later today. The ECB and the BOE have held rates steady. Japan has scaled down GDP growth for the April-June period to a decline of 0.5%.

The Parliament’s monsoon session ended on a sour note with cash-for-votes scam halting proceedings. BJP leader LK Advani has apparently dared the Government to arrest him in connection with the cash-for-votes scam.

The Government was able to table the CAG reports on the oil & gas production sharing contracts, including RIL's KG-D6 block, and the deteriorating state of national carrier Air India.

Next week is full of major domestic events, with IIP, Inflation, RBI meet and Advance Tax data being among the important ones.