Andrew L D'Cunha

Mumbai, Sep 13: Indian markets gave up its morning gains as selling intensified in  banking and reality stocks . BSE Sensex closed at 16468, down 34 points . Sensex touched intraday low of 16375 and high of 16766. Nifty ended at 4940, down 6 points. Nifty touched a high of 5030 and low of 4911 in trade today. ICICI Bank dropped 1.7% and was the biggest dragger among Sensex stocks. SBI was down 2.3% to Rs 1,826. Jaiprakash Associates, Stelite, Hindalco, ONGC and Mahindra & Mahindra shed 1-2% each.   Market opened on a positive note Indian after witnessing heavy selling in previous session but succumbed to selling pressure again and slipped into red when European markets opened negative on global economic concerns.

The Indian rupee weakened to its lowest level in more than 15 months on Tuesday after shares turned negative and the euro fell against the dollar.  The partially convertible rupee touched 47.51 today, its lowest since May 26, 2010.  In spite of all of the debt and deficit problems  in the US Dollar pricing is appreciating across the global market.  Investors are going back to dollar as a safe haven due to the risk in the European market.

Indian markets are keenly awaiting Friday's RBI credit policy review which may also decide on the direction for the market. Economists are of the opinion that  the RBI would increase rates one last time in its 18-month-long tightening cycle as inflation pressures continue to remain strong.

In Asia, markets advanced in morning trades on hopes that China will buy the bonds from Italy Worries over Greece's worsening debt position and its impact on the Eurozone dragged major indices across Asia lower. Shanghai Composite dropped 1% to 2,471. Taiwan Weighted slipped 3% to 7,391. Nikkei, however, managed to hold on to gains and advanced 1%

Gold Prices down

Gold prices turned negative in international markets, dropping 1 percent in volatile trade before bouncing back above $1,800 an ounce, as gains in the dollar put fresh pressure on the precious metal. Spot gold dropped to a session low at $1,795.34 an ounce   In India, gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per cent purity shed another Rs 50 each to Rs 28,240 and Rs 28,090 per 10 grams, respectively. The metal had lost Rs 300 in the last two trading sessions.

Andrew L D Cunha, Managing Director, WinWin Fin  Advisory Pvt. Ltd. Mangalore. Email:  finadvisoryltd@yahoo.com