Who will unlock potential?

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential - Winston Churchill The Reserve Bank of India says the ball is in the Government’s court and wants the centre to provide the impetus and the stimulus to boost investment and revive growth. Calling for aggressive steps, the RBI in its monetary policy review stated that persistent inflation limits the scope for monetary policy to revive growth. We won’t speculate on what the RBI will do in a few hours but there is hardly any room for cheer unless the RBI governor springs a positive surprise for the market. Status quo is the expectation. Monday was a happy day as the Nifty and the Sensex had gained following a widespread rally across sectors including power, realty, capital goods, banks, consumer durables and auto. Outside the market some happiness of course came with the first Olympic medal of the London Games for India. The indices may remain muted at start as the previous rally may fail to sustain. Global investors are not keen on making any major bets as they await some action from the US and European central bankers later this week. Asian markets are relatively higher at start in anticipation of better tidings ahead. The Federal Open Market Committee will announce a policy decision tomorrow while the European Central Bank will convene on Aug. 2. US Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble say they are willing to do all that is needed to defend the euro area. No mention has been made about Greece though. US indices were slightly lower on Monday while European equities gained. Spanish bonds were up on hopes that the region’s debt crisis would ease. Back home, the BSE said it will exclude 52 stocks from trading in Securities Lending and Borrowing (SLB) segment with effect from September 28, 3012. Recently, the National Stock Exchange had removed 51 stocks from its derivative segment. Key Results Today: Balaji Telefilms, Bhushan Steel, Blue Star, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Cipla, EID Parry, Elecon Engineering, Godfrey Phillips, GTL, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Company, Hexaware Technologies, Hindustan Oil, IDBI Bank, IPCA Lab, Jaiprakash Associates, Karur Vysya Bank, KEC International, Man Industries, Monsanto India, NDTV, Petronet LNG, Phoenix Mills, Radico Khaitan, Silverline Technologies, Swaraj Engines, Titan Industries, Wyeth Trend in FII flows: The FIIs were net buyers of Rs.9.28bn in the cash segment on Monday while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers of Rs.2.33bn, as per the provisional figures released by the NSE. The foreign funds were net buyers of Rs.6.42bn in the cash segment on Monday and the mutual funds were net buyers of Rs.828mn on Friday, according to the SEBI figures. Global Data Watch today: Australia Building Permits (Jun), Japan Labor Cash Earnings (Jun), Australia Private Sector Credit (Jun), Japan Annualized Housing Starts (Jun), Japan Construction Orders (Jun), Japan Housing Starts (Jun), Germany Retail Sales (Jun), France Consumer Spending (Jun), France Producer Prices (Jun), Spain Retail Sales (Jun), Germany Unemployment Rate (Jul), Germany Unemployment Change (Jul), Spain Current Account Balance (May), Italy Unemployment (Jun), Italy Consumer Price Index (Jul), EU Consumer Price Index (Jul), Greece Retail Sales (May), EU Unemployment Rate (Jun), US Personal Income (Jun), US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure – Prices Index (Jun), US Personal Consumption Expenditure - Price Index (Jun), US Personal Spending (Jun), US S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (May), US Chicago PMI (Jul), US Consumer Confidence (Jul), UK BRC Shop Price Index (Jul), Australia AiG Performance of Manufacturing Index (Jul)