However sentiment may remain cautious as the Left had set today, 7 July 2008 as deadline for the Centre to let them know whether it intends to approach the International Atomic Energy Agency to seal the India-specific safeguards agreement.
Meanwhile, visiting US Congressman Gary Ackerman informed that India will have to complete all formalities by September 2008 if it wanted the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreement to go through since the presidential elections in the US will be held in November 2008. He added that the progress was slow at the moment.
US light crude for August delivery traded at $143.92 a barrel and London Brent crude rose 23 cents to $144.65 a barrel. Crude oil hit a record $145.85 hit on 3 July 2008.
Asian markets were trading mixed today, 7 July 2008. China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.25% or 59.95 points at 2,729.84, Taiwan Weighted was up 0.07% or 7.92 points at 7,233.33, Singapore's Straits Times rose 0.26% or 7.54 points at 2,900.08, Hang Seng advanced 0.47% or 99.69 points at 21,523.51. However, Nikkei was down 0.06% or 8.43 points at 13,229.46 and South Korea's Seoul Composite declined 0.64% or 10.13 points at 1,567.81
US stock markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday on Friday, 4 July 2008.
Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 359.89 points or 2.75% at 13,454 and the broader based S&P CNX Nifty rose 90.25 points or 2.30% at 4016.
The key benchmark indices slumped to 15-month low in choppy trade as a political rift over nuclear deal, soaring crude oil prices, high inflation and sustained selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) depressed market sentiment. A number of stocks and sectoral indices tumbled to 52-week low. The barometer index BSE Sensex lost 348.22 points or 2.52% to 13,454 and the S&P CNX Nifty lost 120.65 points or 2.91% to 4,016 in the week ended Friday, 4 July 2008.
From a record high of 21,206.77 hit on 10 January 2008, Sensex has lost 7752.77 points or 36.55%. It has shed 6832.99 points or 33.68% in calendar year 2008 thus far from its close of 20286.99 on 31 December 2007.
India's wholesale price index rose 11.63% in the 12 months to 21 June 2008, a 13-year high, and above previous week's annual rise of 11.42%, government data released on 4 July 2008 showed. Experts opine that the double-digit inflation is here to stay for some more time, but could trend down from September 2008.
As per provisional data, foreign funds bought shares worth a net Rs 372.35 crore while domestic mutual funds sold shares worth a net Rs 97.02 crore on Friday 4 July 2008.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Rs 120.10 crore in the futures & options segment on Friday, 4 July 2008. They were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 215.54 crore and bought index options worth Rs 99.23 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 221.21 crore and purchased stock options worth Rs 15.20 crore.
As per reports, India's monsoon has been 21% above average so far this season. A normal monsoon may lift farm production, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, and cool the nation's fastest inflation rate in 13 years.