News Tonight

Indian stock markets ended the initial week of August on a discouraging note sending Nifty below 5,300 mark and Sensex below 18,000 on account of panic selling on August 05 accompanying massacre in the US and European bourses among worries the world was heading in the direction of another fiscal crisis.

The BSE Realty topped the losers' chart accompanied by Metal, IT, Capital goods, Consumer Durables and Automobile.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex dropped 891.33 points at 17,305.87 in the week ended Aug 05.

In contrast, the broad based Nifty declined 270.75 points at 5,211.25 during the same period.

Mid-cap index dropped 326.46 points to 6,588.85 during the week.

Small-cap index also dipped 490.53 points to 7,815.05 during the week ended Aug 05.

BSE sectoral indices also closed the week on a negative note.

Major losers comprised BSE Realty (7.47%) accompanied by Metal, IT, Teck, Capital goods, CD, Auto, Bankex, Power, FMCG, Healthcare, Oil & gas and PSU.

The auto sales figures for the month of July showed a mixed bag.

Tata Motors posted a decline of 6% in July sales followed by Maruti Suzuki, which posted a fall of 25.3%, Hyundai Motor 1.48%, whilst M&M sales remained up by 41% in July, TVS Motor posted an increase of 16% and Ford 11%.

For the week ended July 23, food inflation surged to 8.04% on costly onion, fruits and milk.

Food inflation, assessed by WPI, stood at 7.33% during the previous week, the lowest since November 2009.

Mr. Amar Ambani, head of research, IIFL stated, "A global carnage in the financial markets was perhaps long overdue. The initial jubilation over the passing of the US debt deal has swiftly given way to considerable pain. Relatively safer havens like gold, bonds, yen and Swiss francs may continue to attract interest due to global risk aversion. Whether this is a temporary panic selloff or a deeper correction is anybody's guess. Medium to long term gains are made in times like these. But, don't get carried away as there might be some more poison left in the system. Amid the worldwide bloodbath, there is reason to rejoice; the steep fall in crude oil prices lately is good for countries like India."

"Federal Reserve policymakers will closely analyze the July jobs data before they meet on Tuesday. Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his FOMC colleagues could address some of the concerns on the US economy and may also comment on the recent turmoil in the financial markets," Mr. Amar added.