Indian Market:
- The RBI said that the weight of monetary policy balance may have to shift to containing inflation since high inflation itself will dampen recovery in growth. The RBI said it has not increased interest more than 25 bps because it believes that investments need to come in to improve the supply side inflation.
- CRR is hiked to 6% from 5.75%, the reverse repo is raised to 3.75% from 3.5% and the repo is increased to 5.25% from 5%. While the policy rates are effective immediately, the CRR hike will be effective from April 24.
- Hero Honda Motors after market hours announced its net profit rose 48.8% to Rs 598.81 crore on 19.6% rise in total income to Rs 4191.81 crore in Q4 March 2010 over Q4 March 2009.
- Nifty snapped the five-day losing streak led by bounce in global markets post Goldman Sachs woes and RBI’s Monetary Policy, which was in-line with expectations. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,460 up 60 points and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 26.45 points or 0.51% to 5.230
Global Markets:
- US markets rose on Monday as investors reassessed the potential damage of the fraud case against Goldman Sachs and earnings optimism grew – the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.59 points (0.67%) to 11092
- European stocks rose in early trade on Tuesday, reversing losses from the previous session, with European banks gaining and car makers strong as Daimler rose after doubling its profit outlook.
- Inflation rate in UK jumped more than economists forecasted in March, breaching the government’s upper limit for the second time this year after energy costs rose within weeks of the election. Consumer prices climbed 3.4 percent from a year earlier.
- Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, led by finance companies, as regulators were split on suing Goldman Sachs Group Inc., easing concern over the impact increased regulation on banks. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan rose by between 0.25% to 0.76%