Fundamentals To The Fore

In the absence of any trend, fundamentals are coming into focus again. And for the moment, the momentum game seems to have ended.

The much-talked about hike in interest rates announced by the US Federal Reserve was along expected lines. However, the signals emanating with the move indicate that there could be more such hikes, till perhaps a historically high rate is reached. The US Fed's relentless war with inflation thus continues.

The domestic markets, in the absence of a pace of its own, is looking towards the recast of Morgan Stanley Capital International's index for some spur.

Pran on vehicles

 

The Pran brokerage is of the view that the worst is over for the commercial vehicle segment of the automobile industry. However, realisations and margins continue to be under pressure on account of increased costs due to conversion to Euro II norms.

The slowdown in March and April is thought to be an aberration with better times ahead. The report says the potential of the heavy commercial vehicle segment is dependent on the construction of better roads. The government comes into the picture here, and that becomes a different story.

Pace setter needed

With no major Pace Setter (institution or operator), the capital market is going through a listless phase. This was in ample evidence yesterday when the early bait of a firm opening failed to hold good towards the close. Market watchers are of the view that this is typical when the market enters an intermediate bear phase. Every rally creates a fresh slide leaving the small punter gasping for breath.

However, as they say, experience makes a person wiser and the street side punter is slowly getting attuned to the ways of New Age investing.

Deals time

Jordan's disappointment with MTNL was reflected in its decision to dump half a million shares of MTNL. Big Daddy continued with its bargain-hunting as is seen in its move to lap up a further 50,000 shares of Infosys. In a market showing lacklustre movements the Big Bull brokerage picked up a lakh of ITC shares and the King Kong Brokerage 40,000 shares of Global Tele-Systems.