Cautious Opening, Fiscal Cliff in focus - Consortium

The key Indian stock indices closed lower on Thursday, as market participants realigned their trading bets in the futures & options (F&O) segment on the last day of the settlement. Total market turnover reached a new all-time high of over INR 4 lakh crore. The main indices were trading in a tight range till 3:00 pm before suddenly dipping in the last half an hour. The fall in the Indian market came after the Prime Minister said that the average 8% GDP growth estimated for the 12th Five-Year Plan is "ambitious". He also warned that business-as-usual policies won?t lift the GDP growth. Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that India?s economic growth could get stuck at 5.0-5.5% if policy logjam continues. The BSE Sensex was down 0.48% while the NSE Nifty lost 0.60%. The broader indices ended lower as well. The BSE Mid-Cap Index was down 0.50% and the BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.70%. In terms of index constituents, BHEL, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries, Gail, M&M, RIL, Sun Pharma, Cipla, Infosys, JP Associates and Power Grid Corp. were the biggest laggards in the Sensex and Nifty. Tata Motors and BOB were the top winners in the two key indices.Barring China, most other Asian markets closed higher, with the Nikkei hitting a 21-month high. The Nikkei rose by 0.90% while the Straits Times was up 0.10%. The Hang Seng gained 0.35%.

For the day coming by domestic markets are likely to open on a cautious note on the first day of January series, which also happens to be the penultimate day of trade in the calendar year 2012.Asian shares were capped by worries the United States may run out of time to avoid a fiscal crunch.The Nifty is now expected to head higher till 5,940 with support around 5,830 in the short term. The key supports in the immediate run will be around 5,830 and resistance will be at 5940.Bharti Infratel Ltd will be in focus as the company is expected to list on the exchanges later today.

In US,house of representatives will reconvene on Sunday evening to resume on how to avert fiscal cliff. So markets on Monday may open with a big gap. Traders are therefore advised to remain light on positions.

Source : Equity Bulls

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