Stock Market Outlook and Review

Indian Market:

Equity benchmarks were consistently trading lower - the Sensex lost around 150 points amid volatility. Downtrend in financial, auto and realty companies' shares were on sellers' radar on the back of news that RBI may increase interest rates in a policy meet scheduled by end of January.

30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 20,180, with loss of 120 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 32 points to 6,047. Breadth was also in favour of declines; about 301 shares advanced as against 992 shares declined on Bombay Stock Exchange.

Reliance Industries today said it has allotted 2.86 lakh shares, currently worth about Rs 30.81 crore, to company workers under its Employees Stock Option Scheme (ESOS).

Fuel exports from India's west coast climbed 57 percent in December as Reliance Industries Ltd. boosted shipments from the world's largest refining complex to the U.S., Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

Global Cues:

Asian stocks edged higher today, 6 January 2011, as a stronger dollar boosted earnings prospects for exporters and reports in the US signaled a broadening of the economic recovery. The key benchmark indices in Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan rose by between 0.03% to 1.17%.

US stocks gained on Wednesday, 5 January 2011, on encouraging data from the labor market and service sector pointed to a firming economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 31.71 points, or 0.27%, at 11722.89.

Record high food prices are moving to the top of the agenda for many Asian policymakers as the prospect of higher inflation in 2011 poses a major threat to the region's strong revival from the global financial crisis.

China has been increasing its holdings of European government debt, including that issued by Spain, vice commerce minister Gao Hucheng was quoted as saying on Thursday.