Market snaps four-day winning streak as world stocks slide

Key benchmark indices snapped a four-day winning streak on weak global stocks as the initial euphoria surrounding last week's plan to contain the euro-zone debt crisis faded. The barometer index BSE Sensex shed 99.79 points or 0.56%, up close to 35 points from the day's low and off close to 110 points from the day's high. Interest rate sensitive banking stocks extended recent gains triggered by RBI hinting of a pause in interest rate hikes after raising its key policy rate by 25 basis points at a policy review last week. But, ICICI Bank fell on profit taking after reporting strong Q2 results. The market breadth was positive. Small-cap and mid-cap indices on BSE rose.



The Sensex jumped 1,251.25 points or 7.6% in October 2011. The index has slumped 2,804.08 points or 13.67% in calendar 2011. From a 52-week high of 21,108.64 on 5 November 2010, the Sensex has lost 3,403.63 points or 16.12%. From a 52-week low of 15,745.43 on 4 October 2011, the Sensex has risen 1,959.58 points or 12.44%.

Coming back to today's trade, shares of FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever jumped more than 7% after the company reported on good Q2 results. Dabur India rose after reporting growth in second quarter net profit. BPCL fell after reporting loss in Q2 September 2011. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries extended initial losses. Metal and mining shares edged lower as global commodity prices fell. Auto shares dropped on profit taking.

The market trimmed losses after drifting lower at the onset of the trading session. The market weakened again later to hit fresh intraday low. The market once again came off lows in morning trade. Intraday volatility continued as key benchmark indices pared losses after hitting fresh intraday lows in morning trade. The market moved in a narrow range in negative terrain in early afternoon. Intraday recovery gathered steam as key benchmark moved into positive zone in afternoon trade on the back of gains in banking and IT shares. The market weakened once again in mid-afternoon trade as European shares dropped in early trade. The market trimmed losses after sliding to fresh intraday low in late trade.

The BSE Sensex shed 99.79 points or 0.56% to settle at 17,705.01, its lowest closing level since 26 October 2011. The index rose 8.31 points at the day's high of 17,813.11 in afternoon trade. The index fell 136.53 points at the day's low of 17,668.27 in late trade.

The S&P CNX Nifty lost 34.10 points or 0.64% to settle at 5,326.60, its lowest closing level since 26 October 2011. The Nifty hit a high of 5,360.25 in intraday trade. The Nifty hit a low of 5,314.60 in intraday trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.37% and the BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.21%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

BSE clocked turnover of Rs 2183 crore, lower than Rs 2512.57 crore on Friday, 28 October 2011.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,490 shares rose and 1,371 fell. A total of 100 shares were unchanged.

From the 30 share Sensex pack, 22 fell and the remaining rose.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) fell 2.26% on profit taking after recent strong gains. RIL's net profit rose 15.84% to Rs 5703 crore on 34.73% rise in turnover to Rs 80790 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Operating profit rose just 5% to Rs 9844 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The core operating profit margin (OPM) declined sharply to 12.5% in Q2 September 2011 from 16.3% in Q2 September 2010. The result was announced on 15 October 2011.

RIL recently said its Infotel Broadband Services unit is in the process of setting up a 4G broadband wireless network and finalizing arrangements with global players.

RIL recently concluded a $7.2 billion deal with BP PLC under which it sold a 30% stake in 21 oil-and-gas exploration blocks to the British explorer. RIL said it has received all the payments that were due from BP, with the final installment of Rs 14690 crore received on 3 October 2011. It said all the production-sharing contracts under the deal with BP have been revised and submitted to the government for approval. "The integration process is currently under way, and the joint teams are evolving strategies to operate across the gas value chain in India from exploration, development, distribution and marketing," RIL said.

Meanwhile, RIL has neither confirmed nor denied media reports of a likely suspension of oil and gas drilling operations. RIL said on 17 October 2011 that RIL has always communicated any material event to the stock exchanges first before disseminating to the media. Media reports had suggested recently that RIL may suspend oil and gas drilling operations for an unspecified time until an internal valuation of its exploration and production strategy.

BPCL fell 2.27% after company posted a net loss of Rs 3229.27 crore in Q2 September 2011, compared with a net profit of Rs 2142.22 crore in Q2 September 2010. The company's total income rose 18.66% to Rs 42680.59 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The company announced the results during trading hours today.

Metal and mining shares edged lower as global commodity prices fell. India's largest private sector aluminium maker by capacity Hindalco Industries fell 4.11% after galloping 10.88% on Friday.

Jindal Steel & Power, Sterlite Industries, JSW Steel, Nalco, and Sail fell by between 0.93% to 4.1%. NMDC fell 2.37% ahead of its Q2 results today.

India's largest engineering & construction firm by order book, L&T, was flat, taking a breather after three-day rally. The stock had witnessed selling pressure recently after the company cut its order growth guidance for the current fiscal year to 5%, from 15% earlier at the time of announcing second quarter results on 21 October 2011. Order flow is being hampered by investment slowdown, project deferrals and higher competition, Chief Financial Officer R Shankar Raman said at the time of announcing the second quarter results.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) jumped 7.38% Rs 375.25 after the company announced during market hours today that net profit rose 21.69% to Rs 688.92 crore on 17.75% rise in total income to Rs 5610.48 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The stock hit a record high of Rs 377 in intraday trade today.

Commenting on the results Harish Manwani, Chairman, HUL said, "Against the backdrop of a challenging environment, we have delivered one of our strongest quarters with topline growth well ahead of the market and improved operating margins. We will continue to leverage consumer insights to deliver winning innovations and maintain relentless focus on execution, cost management and building organizational capabilities for competitive advantage".

Dabur India rose 0.85% after the company announced during market hours today that consolidated net profit rose 8.42% to Rs 173.86 crore on 29.31% rise in total income to Rs 1270.68 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Strong growth in its key business categories, calibrated price hikes and stringent cost saving initiatives helped Dabur mitigate the impact of rising inflation in Q2 September 2011. The Hair Oil category for Dabur reported a 26.6% growth during the second quarter, led by Dabur Amla, while the foods business registered a robust 27.5% growth during the quarter. Dabur's Health Supplements portfolio also ended the second quarter with a 7.8% growth.

"The operating environment was extremely challenging and it impacted our margins during the period. Despite the challenges, effective management of costs helped Dabur expand its EBITDA by 16.5%. Going forward, we will strive to continue to remain competitive and cost efficient, and deliver profitable growth," Dabur India Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sunil Duggal said.

Colgate-Palmolive (India) rose 0.4%, reversing initial losses triggered by weak Q2 results. Net profit fell 0.62% to Rs 99.68 crore on 18.64% increase in total income to Rs 685.01 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The result was announced during trading hours today, 31 October 2011.

Interest rate sensitive banking stocks extended recent gains triggered by RBI hinting of a pause in interest rate hikes after raising its key policy rate by 25 basis points at a policy review last week. Bank of Baroda rose 4.41% after the bank announced during market hours today that net profit rose 14.4% to Rs 1166.08 crore on 36.74% rise in total income to Rs 7985.78 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010.

India's second largest private sector bank by net profit HDFC Bank rose 1.33%, with the stock gaining for the third straight day. The bank's net profit rose 31.48% to Rs 1199.35 on 37.4% rise in total income to Rs 7929.38 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The result was announced during market hours on 19 October 2011.

HDFC Bank's portfolio quality as of 30 September 2011 remained healthy, with gross non-performing assets (NPA) at 1% of gross advances and net non-performing assets at 0.2% of net advances (as against 1.2% gross NPAs and 0.3% net NPA ratios as on 30 September 2010). The bank's provisioning policies for specific loan loss provisions remained higher than the minimum regulatory requirements. The NPA provision coverage ratio (excluding write-offs, technical or otherwise) was at 81.3% as of 30 September 2011. Total restructured assets were 0.4% of the bank's gross advances as of 31 September 2011. Of these, restructured advances categorized as standard assets were 0.1% of the bank's gross advances.

HDFC Bank's CASA ratio stood at 47.3% as of 30 September 2011. The CASA (current and savings account) ratio is the ratio of deposits in the current and savings accounts of a bank to its total deposits. The bank's total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) as at 30 September 2011 as per Basel II guidelines was at 16.5%, as against regulatory minimum of 9%. Tier I CAR was at 11.4% as at 30 September 2011.

India's largest bank by branch network State Bank of India (SBI) was flat. State Bank of India is not in a hurry to raise interest rates now, its Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri had said last week. "We don't see pressure now. Banks are comfortable with the liquidity now. Banks will not be desperate to raise rates," Chaudhuri said at a post policy bankers' meeting with media on 25 October 2011.

The SBI stock had surged recently on hopes of capital infusion from the Government of India, its majority shareholder. The finance ministry has ruled out a rights issue for SBI in this financial year. However, it assured the lender that its capital requirements would be met by March 31, 2012.

India's largest private sector bank by net profit ICICI Bank fell 0.26% on profit taking. The stock had surged more than 7% on Friday, 28 October 2011. ICICI Bank's consolidated net profit rose 43% to Rs 1992 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Standalone profit after tax increased 22% to Rs 1503 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Net interest income increased 14% to Rs 2506 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Fee income increased 7% to Rs 1700 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Provisions decreased 50% to Rs 319 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The result was announced during trading hours today, 31 October 2011.

ICICI Bank's current and savings account (CASA) ratio stood at 42.1% as on 30 September 2011. Net non-performing asset ratio decreased to 0.8% as at 30 September 2011 from 1.37% as at 30 September 2010 and 0.91% as at 30 June 2011.

Indian Bank rose 5.85% after net profit rose 12.73% to Rs 468.69 crore on 31.9% growth in total income to Rs 3377.13 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010.

Auto stocks fell on profit taking. Auto companies will start unveiling sales figures for the month of October starting tomorrow, 1 November 2011. Maruti Suzuki India shed 0.21% to Rs 1125.65, off the day's low of Rs 1059.45. The company announced on Saturday, 29 October 2011 that net profit fell 59.8% to Rs 240.44 crore on 14.36% fall in total income to Rs 7949.36 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The board of directors of the company granted approval to purchase land in district Mehsana, Gujarat for the future expansion of manufacturing facilities.

Maruti Suzuki said that in Q2 September 2011, the domestic auto industry remained sluggish on account of increase in fuel prices and hardening interest rates, leading to higher sales promotion expense. The company said its bottom line was also impacted due to adverse foreign exchange rates. The company said it lost 28,539 units in Q2 September 2011 due to instances of industrial unrest at its Manesar facility. A strike by about 1,500 workers at Manesar had severely hit vehicle production at India's largest car maker by sales since 7 October 2011. It also extended the waiting period to several months for the popular Swift hatchback. The strike was called off on 21 October 2011 and production started from 22 October 2011.

In Q2 September 2011, the company introduced its best seller Swift in an all-new form. The offering was well received by the market and the company received an overwhelming booking of over 1 lakh units within a few weeks of its launch.

India's largest tractor and utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) fell 0.61% to Rs 863.20. The stock had hit record high of Rs 874.75 on Friday, 28 October 2011.

India's largest truck maker by sales Tata Motors fell 3.76% on profit taking after jumping 15.87% in the preceding four trading sessions. The company's global sales rose 24% to 1,07,258 units in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. Global sales of Jaguar Land Rover were up 42% to 27,639 vehicles in September 2011 over September 2010. The total passenger vehicles sales stood at 55,539 units in September 2011, up 21% from the corresponding period last year. Commercial vehicles sales were up by 28% to 51,719 units in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The company unveils its Q2 results on 14 November 2011.

India's second largest bike maker by sales Bajaj fell 1.21% to Rs 1733.15. The stock had scaled a record high of Rs 1822.15 on Friday, 28 October 2011. The company's net profit increased 6.41% to Rs 725.80 crore on 20.70% increase in net sales to Rs 5046.48 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The company incurred a mark-to-market (MTM) loss of Rs 95.41 crore on forward derivative contracts in the foreign exchange market. The company said this is a notional loss, which would reverse over the contract period. The company announced Q2 results during market hours on 20 October 2011.

India's largest bike maker by sales Hero MotoCorp gained 0.84%, with the stock advancing for the sixth straight day. After market hours on 18 October 2011, the company reported 19.38% rise in net profit to Rs 603.62 crore on 28.06% growth in total net operating income to Rs 5829.32 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The company's core operating profit margin or OPM surged to 15.76% in Q2 September 2011 from 13.35% in Q2 September 2010.

The company said the total net operating income of Rs 5829.32 crore in Q2 September 2011 was a record quarterly figure. Hero MotoCorp said that with the company registering record sales of over 3 million units for six months period April-September 2011, it is comfortably placed to surpass the initial guidance of 6 million units for the year ending March 2012 (FY 2012).

India's third largest software services exporter Wipro fell 17%, reversing initial gains. The company announced before market hours today that non-GAAP adjusted net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 2% to Rs 1306 crore on 18% rise in total revenue to Rs 9094 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010. The company expects 7.91% to 10.07% growth in revenue from IT services business at between $1.5 billion to $1.53 billion in Q3 December 2011 over Q2 September 2011.

Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, commenting on the results said "Macroeconomic sentiments continue to remain uncertain. We have seen growth momentum build up in our IT business with healthy volume growth. Our focused investment strategy will get the business to a higher growth trajectory".

Suresh Senapaty, Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer, Wipro, said "We are continuing to see incremental progress in our client mining strategy with 5 customers contributing more than $100 million of revenue and our top customer hitting a revenue run rate upwards of $200 million. We had an impact on operating margins in the quarter due to salary increases."

T K Kurien, Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of Wipro IT business, said "We have had a strong quarter with revenues ahead of the upper end of the guided range. We continue to build differentiation and business value through our focus on key themes -- Variabilization, Consumerization, Performance Analytics and Innovation in a world of constraints".

Wipro said that in the current macro-economic environment, corporations across the globe are looking to maximize the potential of technology deployments and are increasingly relying on business models and technologies to variabilize their IT spends, enabling more differentiating investment for IT based innovation.

Wipro said it is seeing traction with clients on cloud and variabilized business model offerings. State Street Corporation, one of the world's leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, has entered into a multi-year agreement with Wipro to provide application maintenance and support services Wipro will deploy pioneering lean methodologies delivered through its award winning CIGMA platform for this IT transformation engagement.

India's largest software services exporter by sales Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell 0.49% to Rs 1114.20 on profit taking. From the recent low of Rs 1033.50 on 18 October 2011, the stock gained 8.33% in seven trading sessions to Rs 1119.65 on 28 October 2011.

TCS on 17 October 2011 reported a 4.7% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 2301 crore on 7.7% growth in revenue to Rs 11633 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q1 June 2011. The company's operating profit rose 11.4% to Rs 3143 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q1 June 2011.

Commenting on the results TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director N Chandrasekaran said, "Our domain-rich solutions and disciplined execution helped us capture business across major markets and deliver stellar growth in international revenues. We see strong momentum for our full services strategy from customers who are looking for agility and growth. We have created a nimble organization on the ground to stay close and stay relevant to our customers as there are ambiguities in the external environment in the short term".

India's second largest software services exporter Infosys gained 0.54% to Rs 2875.20. From the recent low of Rs 2509.20 on 11 October 2011, the stock gained 13.96% in twelve trading sessions to Rs 2859.65 on 28 October 2011. The company's consolidated net profit as per International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 10.68% to Rs 1906 crore on 8.2% growth in revenue to Rs 8099 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q1 June 2011. The company announced the results on 12 October 2011.

Infosys has forecast 9.72% to 11.11% growth in non-annualized earnings per American Depositary Share at $0.79 to $0.80 in Q3 December 2011 over Q2 September 2011. It has forecast 3.2% to 5.3% growth in revenue at $1.802 to $1.84 billion in Q3 December 2011 over Q2 September 2011.

The company has for the second quarter in a row revised upwards its dollar earnings guidance for the year ending March 2012 (FY 2012). The company expects 15.3% to 16.8% growth in earnings per American Depositary Share at $3.02 to $3.06 in FY 2012 over the year ending March 2011 (FY 2011). However, the company has revised downwards dollar revenue growth guidance for FY 2012. The company expects 17.1% to 19.1% growth in revenue at $7.08 billion to $7.20 billion in FY 2012 over FY 2011.

India's largest cigarette maker by sales ITC fell 0.93% to Rs 213.15 on profit taking after recent surge triggered by good Q2 results. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 216.10 on Friday, 28 October 2011. Net profit rose 21.46% to Rs 1514.31 crore on 18.22% rise in total income to Rs 6266.02 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q2 September 2010.

Interest rate sensitive realty stocks extended recent gains triggered by RBI hinting of a pause in interest rate hikes after raising its key policy rate by 25 basis points at a policy review last week. Purchases of both residential and commercial property are largely driven by finance. HDIL, Unitech, D B Realty and Indiabulls Real Estate rose by between 0.3% to 3.1%.

Textile stocks rose after the government approved setting up 21 textile parks over 36 months. "The focus has been to ensure value addition through aggregation to best utilize India's raw material surplus in cotton and cotton yarn for enhanced labor employment and export earnings," Textiles Minister Anand Sharma said in the statement issue on Friday, 28 October 2011. The proposed textile parks will generate 4,00,000 jobs, the statement said. Alok Industries, Vardhman Textiles, Arvind, Birla Cotsyn and Patspin India rose by between 0.48% to 3.03%.

Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision clocked highest volume of 1.3 crore shares on BSE. Cals Refineries (68.85 lakh shares), Lanco Infratech (45.68 lakh shares), SpiceJet (42.57 lakh shares) and BAMPSL Securities (39.43 lakh shares) were the other volume toppers in that order.

SBI clocked highest turnover of Rs 105.77 crore on BSE. HUL (Rs 86.05 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 81.96 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 49.36 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 44.96 crore) were the other turnover toppers in that order.

Stock-specific activity may dominate trade in the near-term as earnings flow in. Investors will closely watch the management commentary at the time of announcement of Q2 September 2011 results, which will provide cues on futures earnings outlook.

Cement majors ACC and Ambuja Cements, Punjab National Bank, HPCL and Aditya Birla Nuvo unveil quarterly results tomorrow, 1 November 2011. Sun TV Network, Ashok Leyland and TVS Motor report Q2 results on Thursday, 3 November 2011. ONGC, Bharti Airtel and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals unveil quarterly results on Friday, 4 November 2011.

Infrastructure Development Finance Company, ABB, Bank of India and Reliance Power unveil results on 8 November 2011. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Indian Oil Corporation, GMR Infrastructure and Power Finance Corporation unveil quarterly results on 9 November 2011. Tata Steel, Hindalco, Pantaloon Retail (India) and Mahindra Satyam unveil quarterly results on 10 November 2011. Jet Airways (India) and Tata Chemicals unveil Q2 results on 11 November 2011. Coal India and Shipping Corporation of India report Q2 results on 12 November 2011. Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and India Cements unveil Q2 results on 14 November 2011. Tata Power unveils Q2 results on 15 November 2011.

RBI announced a 25 basis points hike in its key policy rate viz. the repo rate to 8.5% after half-yearly review of the monetary policy on 25 October 2011. The central bank cut its GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year through March 2012 to 7.6% from 8% earlier. But it retained its March-end inflation projection of 7%. RBI said the projected inflation trajectory indicates that the inflation rate will begin falling in December 2011 (January 2012 release) and then continue down a steady path to 7% by March 2012. It is expected to moderate further in the first half of 2012-13. This reflects a combination of commodity price movements and the cumulative impact of monetary tightening. Further, moderating inflation rates are likely to impact expectations favourably. RBI said that economic growth is moderating on account of the cumulative impact of past monetary policy actions as well as some other factors.

The central bank said that the likelihood of a rate action in the December mid-quarter review is relatively low. Beyond that, if the inflation trajectory conforms to projections, further rate hikes may not be warranted, the central bank said in a statement. However, as always, actions will depend on evolving macroeconomic conditions, it added.

While the impact of past monetary actions is still unfolding, it is necessary to persist with the anti-inflationary stance, RBI said. The stance of the monetary policy is intended to maintain an interest rate environment to contain inflation and anchor inflation expectations. The stance of the monetary policy is also intended to stimulate investment activity to support raising the trend growth. The stance of the monetary policy is also intended manage liquidity to ensure that it remains in moderate deficit, consistent with effective monetary transmission.

RBI said that several factors--structural imbalances in agriculture, infrastructure capacity bottlenecks and distorted administered prices of several key commodities and the pace of fiscal consolidation--have combined to keep medium-term inflation risks in the economy high. These risks can only be mitigated by concerted policy actions on several fronts, RBI said. In the absence of progress on these, over the medium term, RBI's monetary policy stance will have to take into account the risks of inflation surging in response to even a moderate growth recovery.

Food inflation has accelerated to a six-month high, propelled by soaring vegetable prices and highlighting limitations of the Reserve Bank of India's monetary intervention after it raised rates for the 13th time in 19 months recently. Data released by the government last week showed food inflation rose to 11.43% year on year for the week to October 15, compared with 10.6% in the preceding week, driven by a 25% jump in vegetable prices even as prices of food articles increased 0.25%.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 19 October 2011 said that the government is concerned about the volatility of FII flows. Mukherjee said loose monetary policies adopted by central banks in advanced economies have added to global liquidity, driving investments into better off emerging economies and fueling inflation in these countries.

The falling rupee could bloat India's already mammoth import bill and further strain government finances as the fuel subsidy burden swells, Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral said Friday, 21 October 2011. The rupee hit a near 30-month low below 50 against the dollar on 21 October 2011. Elevated crude oil prices are likely to push the government to spend an additional Rs 40000 crore on fuel subsidies in the current year.

The government has raised its borrowing target for the current fiscal year by Rs 52800 crore, fueling worries that it may even overshoot the new estimate because of muted revenue growth amid a slowing economy and swelling subsidies. The government will borrow Rs 2.2 lakh crore during October 2011-March 2012 period, or the second half of the fiscal year, compared with the target of Rs 1.67 lakh crore announced in budget in February 2011. C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council on 29 September 2011 said it is going to be difficult to achieve fiscal deficit target of 4.6% of GDP for the year ending March 2012.

The government's new borrowing programme may crowd out private borrowers who come into the market in the second half of the year. Credit growth normally picks up after October every year when the busy season starts.

The Union Cabinet on 25 October 2011 approved a national manufacturing policy, the first of its kind in the country, to increase manufacturing's share of national output as it aims to create millions of jobs and add capacity to sustain brisk economic growth through the next decade. The policy targets raising the share of manufacturing to 25% of gross domestic product by 2022 from the current 16% -- a level that has remained stagnant since 1980.

The new policy proposes developing National Investment and Manufacturing Zones, or mega-industrial parks, that will reduce the compliance burden on industry, the government said in a statement. The policy also aims to create 100 million additional jobs over the next decade, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said. The government has identified seven locations across India to set up such industry parks, the government statement said.

Under the policy, a special company will be established that will be a one-stop shop for all clearances for businesses interested in setting up operations in the industry parks, the statement said. Small- and medium-sized companies will be offered tax breaks to entice them to the parks.

European stocks fell on Monday, 31 October 2011, as the initial euphoria surrounding last week's plan to contain the euro-zone debt crisis faded and investors were left looking for more details. Key benchmark indices in France, Germany and UK fell by between 0.98% to 1.61%.

European stocks had surged last week after the European Union announced a plan to reduce Greece's debt burden, recapitalize banks and prevent contagion to other indebted nations, such as Italy. While the plan was seen as generally positive, investors are awaiting more details on how the measures will work in practice.

Asian shares fell on Monday, 31 October 2011, taking a breather from a nearly 10% rally last week after Europe laid out a basic framework to tackle its debt crisis. Key benchmark indices in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan fell by between 0.21% to 1.72%.

Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could fall 84 points at the opening bell on Monday, 31 October 2011. Around 105 US companies are set to report earnings this week, including Comcast Corp. on Wednesday, 2 November 2011 and Prudential Financial on Thursday, 3 November 2011.

The influential US non-farm payroll data for October 2011 is set for release on Friday, 4 November 2011. The report is expected to show non-farm payrolls rose by just 90,000 in October, after a rise of 103,000 in September. Economic data on Friday, 28 October 2011, showed US consumer sentiment improved in October for the second month in a row as consumers felt more upbeat about the economy's prospects.