The Sensex has ended (provisional) at 18,299 - up 102 points. Nifty ended at 5,513 - up 31 points.
____________________________
(Updated at 1431 hrs)
Weakness in metal stocks dragged the markets off the day's high. Asian markets remained in the positive zone following US President Barack Obama's announcement of debt-limit deal. The Sensex touched a high of 18,440 but started to slip in mid-morning trades. The index touched a low of 18,219 before recovering to 18,281 - up 82 points. Nifty is up 25 points at 5,507.
US President, Barack Obama announced a framework debt-limit deal ahead of Tuesday's deadline. This will raise the US borrowing limit and help avoid a default. The Hang Seng gained 1% at 22,663. Nikkei jumped 1.3% to 9,965.
India's GDP growth will slow down to 8.2% in the current fiscal and the inflation rate is expected to remain high at 9% till October, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said today. The report further said that the global economic and financial situation was unlikely to improve (in the foreseeable future) and this could impact the domestic economy.
Meanwhile, India's exports grew by an impressive 46% to $29 billion in June, 2011, despite uncertainty in the US and European markets. Merchandise exports aggregated to $20 billion in June, 2010. During the April-June quarter, overseas shipments grew by 46% to $79 billion, according to Commerce Ministry data released today.
Market heavyweight, Reliance, extended Friday's fall and was down marginally at Rs 827. On Friday, the stock had touched its 52-week low of Rs 824. This follows the company's less-than-expected growth in Q1 net profit.
Auto stocks were flat in lieu of mixed sales numbers from several auto companies. Mahindra & Mahindra posted its highest monthly sales in July, up 41% at 39,633 units. The stock added 2% to Rs 732. Maruti Suzuki, however, reported a 25.34% fall in total sales for July to 75,300 units, mainly due to sluggish market condition and non-production of hatchback Swift as the company is preparing to launch a new version of the car soon. The stock was down 0.4% at Rs 1,203. Meanwhile, TVS Motor July sales rose 14% to 189,962 vehicles while Suzuki Motorcycle sales went up 46%.
BSE metal index dropped 2% to 13,745. JSW Steel plunged 12% to Rs 683, extending the 10% fall of the last two trading sessions, after the Supreme Court suspended all mining operations in the Bellary district of Karnataka till further orders. Jindal Saw slipped 6% to Rs 143. SAIL, Nalco and Jindal Steel were down 4-5% each.
In other news, US investment bank Morgan Stanley slashed its growth forecast for India for the current fiscal year as well as next citing rapidly deteriorating near term growth outlook for Asia's third biggest economy. India is headed for its worst period of growth since the global credit crisis and support from all major growth drivers for the economy will wane at the same time, the bank said.
BSE market breadth was fairly negative. Out of 2,879 stocks traded, 1,638 stocks declined while 1,131 advanced in trades.
