Asian Markets retreat on US fiscal cliff fears !!!

Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday as investors reacted to the prospect of drawn-out negotiations over the looming US "fiscal cliff" by shedding riskier assets, but Japanese equities bucked the trend as a sharp slide in the yen lifted exporters' shares. The retreat from risk also weighed on commodities, with the exception of oil, which jumped in the previous session due to rising tensions in the Middle East after Israel launched an offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza. "Of course we did just see a sharp sell-off on Wall Street as we approach that fiscal cliff," said Stan Shamu, market analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne. "It just seems that there's not much confidence out there." MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.9 per cent, with shares in South Korea , Australia and Hong Kong all losing 1 per cent or more. But Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.9 per cent as the boost given to exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co and Canon Inc. by a slide in the yen the previous day outweighed global concerns.

Pre-market: Nifty seen opening lower on weak global cues

The 50-share Nifty index is expected to open lower on Thursday tracking weak global cues. The markets will also react to inflation numbers which eased marginally in the month of October. Inflation declined marginally to 7.45 per cent in October even though prices of food items like rice, wheat pulses and potato showed a rise, according to data released on Wednesday. At 07:30 a.m., Nifty India stock futures in Singapore were down 47.50 point at 5,657.50, indicating a lower opening on the domestic market. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 185.23 points, or 1.45 per cent, to 12,570.95 at the close. The S&P 500 dropped 19.04 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 1,355.49. The Nasdaq Composite lost 37.08 points, or 1.29 per cent, to 2,846.81.

Nifty near day's low; Bharti, Idea rise post 2G auction

The NSE Nifty was trading near day's low due to weakness in ITC and Infosys. Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, TCS and Tata Motors too added pressure whereas Bharti and HDFC outperformed other bluechips. The 30-share BSE benchmark dropped 171 points to 18,448.08 and the 50-share NSE benchmark was down 51 points to 5,615.80. In the second line shares, Tata Coffee surged 17.5 percent. Amtek Auto, Biocon, Shree Global and M&M Financial were up 3-4 percent while Jindal Saw, Muthoot Finance, HDIL, Indiabulls Real and Pantaloon Retail were down 4-6 percent. Top telecom operator Bharti Airtel and its rival Idea Cellular gained 3-4 percent after 2G spectrum auction. Housing finance company HDFC rose 0.5 percent and FMCG major Hindustan Unilever was up 0.23 percent. Shares of ITC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, TCS and Tata Motors tanked 1-2 percent. Lenders HDFC Bank and State Bank of India were down 0.6 percent each. The market breadth was negative as about 822 shares advanced while 1596 shares declined on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Among Asian markets, Shanghai, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi fell 0.4-1 percent but Nikkei extended gains to 1.8 percent after Japan's main opposition leader, Shinzo Abe, who is expected to win next month's election, said he wants the Bank of Japan to adopt interest rates of zero or below zero to enhance lending. (with inputs from Reuters)

Oil slips to USD 85 a barrel

Oil prices fell below USD 86 a barrel Wednesday in international markets. West Texas Intermediate crude oil in New York lost 25 cents overnight to USD 85.13 a barrel. Reformulated blendstock gasoline added 1.96 cents to USD 2.6734 per gallon overnight. Home heating oil prices added 0.57 cents to USD 2.9665 per gallon. Natural gas prices rose 2.3 cents to USD 3.762 per million British thermal units.

Sensex trades down 117 pts; IT, Auto, Metal fall....!!!

Indian markets declined on Thursday. At 10.07 a.m., the Sensex was trading down 117.03 points or 0.63% at 18,501.84 with 19 components falling. Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading lower by 33.55 points or 0.59% at 5,633.40 with 36 components falling. The 30-share benchmark index, BSE Sensex opened with a decline of 28.80 points or 0.15% at 18,590.07, while the broad based NSE Nifty started with a fall of 16.60 points or 0.29%, at 5,650.35

Sensex drops 150 pts; ITC, Infosys, Reliance, ICICI weigh

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure with the Nifty trading below the 5650 level, weighed down by oil & gas exploration, technology, auto, metals and banking & financials stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 156 points to 18,462.92 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 46.6 points to 5,620.35. Country's largest lender State Bank of India and private sector lender were down 0.5 percent each while their rival ICICI Bank fell 1 percent. Software services exporters Infosys and TCS tumbled 2.27 percent adn 1.65 percent, respectively.

Audit warned of low 2G auction rates !!!

The low values in the 2G auction and unclaimed spectrum ought not to be a surprise for the government as an internal assessment had warned that poor market conditions, deficient auction design and policy drift could hurt revenues. The need to freeze policy parameters to assure bidders that goal posts will not be moved while keeping in mind the state of the economy and country ratings was pointed out in the run up to the auction necessitated by Supreme Court scrapping 2G licences. A note submitted to the inter-ministerial committee overseeing the auction process said telecom regulator Trai's recommendation that 1.25Mhz spectrum be allocated to existing licences in the 1800 Mhz (2G) band at auction determined prices will result in these operators k eeping away from the auction. This would depress demand, harm the auction and the government will lose revenue, the note said while succinctly arguing that market conditions have an important bearing on the success or failure of competitive bidding. Under pressure from the SC to move ahead with auctions cancelled in the wake of former telecom minister A Raja and promoters and senior executive of telecom firms being jailed on alleged corruption charges, the government might have ignored the red flags. Hauled over the coals for the 2G scam, the government perhaps developed cold feet in informing the apex court that the timing of the auction was not propitious given a gloomy economic scenario at home and abroad, feel sources familiar with the developments. Sources said the auction has been hit by older telecom players not needing spectrum while cash-strapped newer entrants, scalded by the scam, participating largely in the hope of the Rs 1,658 crore they paid for cancelled 2G licences being adjusted against a winning bid.

FM to meet heads of PSU banks today.....

Finance Minister P Chidambaram will meet heads of public sector banks tomorrow and review financial performance and credit flow to productive sectors in the light of subdued economic activity, among other issues. The broad agenda of the meeting include review of first half numbers, deteriorating asset quality, credit growth, official sources said. Non-performing assets of the banks have been on the rise for past several months due to slowdown in economy. The Gross NPAs of some public sector banks, including State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Central Bank of India, have crossed 4 percent of total assets at the end of September, 2012. The meeting will also dwell upon steps to increase credit flow to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), farm sector, infrastructure and housing sector, they added. The high-profile meeting will be held in the backdrop of the half-yearly review of monetary policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) wherein central bank left benchmark interest rate unchanged on concern of inflation. However, it reduced cash reserve ratio by 0.25 percent to infuse additional liquidity of around Rs 17,500 crore into the financial system. Accordingly, the CRR, or the portion of deposits banks have to park with the RBI, now stands at 4.25 percent, while the repo rate, at which RBI lends to the system, has been retained at 8 percent. The reverse repo, at which RBI absorbs excess liquidity through borrowings from banks, remains at 7 percent. Following the monetary action by RBI on October 30, many banks ruled out rate correction immediately.

Sensex pares early losses; banks, IT drag; telecom surges

The BSE Sensex fell as much as 180 points in early trade on Thursday following concerns over US fiscal and geopolitical tension in West Asia. But immediately the market showed some recovery, helped by telecom stocks and somewhat short covering. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 144 points to 18,474.87 and the 50-share NSE Nifty lost 43 points to 5,623.70. In the US markets, the Dow Jones closed at a 5-month low yesterday, losing 1.45 percent following President Barack Obama's press conference on the fiscal cliff, worries over the global economy and amid geopolitical tension in West Asia. Even Asian markets were under pressure. Shanghai, Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi went down 0.6-1.5 percent whereas only Nikkei outperformed with gains of over 1 percent.