Weekly Newsletter - Feb 12 2012

After a strong start to 2012, the equity markets are showing some signs of fatigue. Although the Nifty crossed 5400 this week, the frontline Indian stock indices seemed to struggle in their endeavour to move higher. World markets too lost some steam amid ongoing uncertainty over Greece.

Most central banks are in defensive mode right now as they try to contain the spill-over effect from the eurozone debt crisis. China is a bit of a conundrum at the moment.



Back home, the latest batch of data points do not inspire much confidence, though car sales and the PMIs have recovered from 2011 lows. One really doesn’t know whether we have already seen the worst and things can only look up from here.

One would have to stick to the wait-and-see approach till we see consistent and definite signs of a rebound. The UP elections and Union Budget are the two jokers in the pack. Global events and fund flows will continue to be tracked closely. Inflation for January is due next week along with lots of earnings and overseas macroeconomic data.