Indian Stock Market

The key benchmark indices ended the trading session flat amid high volatility. The market opened firm, but slipped into the red in afternoon trade, weighed by data showing lower-than-expected growth in industrial production in March, 2010. Gains from Reliance Industries and positive cues from the European indices pulled the market into the green in mid-afternoon trade. However, a fall in US index futures saw the market pare its gains in the closing session of trade. The Sensex and Nifty ended the session almost flat, up by a marginal 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively. The BSE Mid-cap index was up by 0.1%, while the Small-cap index was down by 0.3%. Among the front-liners, ITC, Wipro, SBI, Tata Power and RIL were up by 1-2%, while Bharti Airtel, M&M, JP Associates, BHEL and ACC were the down by 1-8%. In the Mid-cap segment, Bajaj Finserv, Zuari Industries, Jubilant Organosys, Blue Star and Berger Paints were up by 4-8%, while Gee Kay Finance, Onmobile Global, Gammon India, Hindusthan Natural Glass and Gujarat NRE Coke were down by 4-6%.

World Market

U.S. stocks retreated, led by commodity producers, as oil and copper slumped on growing skepticism that an almost $1 trillion European loan package will halt the region’s debt crisis. Occidental Petroleum , Alcoa. and Goldman Sachs lead the market down as the US energy, raw materials and financial sectors that were under most pressure. Another potential source of pressure is a WSJ article on US federal prosecutors’ investigating yet another Wall Street firm (this time Morgan Stanley) over having misled investors about mortgage derivatives it helped design & bet against. The stock is down 5% pre-market today & may pressure fellow investment banks

Summery
British consumer morale perked up in April but recovered only a fraction of the previous month’s drop as worries about an impeding fiscal squeeze reduced households’ optimism about the next six months. Nationwide Consumer Confidence (Apr) M/M 74 vs. Exp. 73 (Prev. 72, Rev. to 73) (RTRS). No rate rise soon, Bank of England signals. (Telegraph). The Bank of England has signalled it has no intention of raising interest rates as quickly as the markets are predicting, making it likely they will stay on hold at a historic low of 0.5% into 2011.