Markets close the week 0.6% lower

Fri, 14 Dec Closing

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The Indian stock markets started the day on a volatile note and continued to trade within a limited range for the morning session. However towards the afternoon session markets moved higher for a while, but once again slumped back towards yesterday's close. In the final hour of trade however markets moved higher and finally closed in the positive. The BSE-Sensex closed positive, higher by around 88 points (up 0.46%). The NSE-Nifty also closed higher by around 28 points (up 0.5%). The smaller indices also had a positive day on the bourses. The BSE Mid Cap index closed 0.6% higher and the BSE Small Cap closed flat. Metal and banking stocks saw a bulk of the gains today. Consumer durables stocks closed lower.

As regards global markets, Asian indices had a mixed outing today. European indices opened the day on a mixed note. The rupee was trading at Rs 54.56 to the dollar at the time of writing.

The government seems to be in overdrive mode when it comes to new reforms. The Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has indicated more steps for reviving the economy in the next few weeks. This indication has come within hours of decisions such as the formation of Cabinet Committee on Investment, Land Acquisition Bill and new urea investment policy were taken just yesterday. Over the past few months the Government has taken a number of measures, including opening up of FDI in multi-brand retail and hiking foreign investment cap in the aviation sector, in order to boost economic growth and restore investor confidence. Inflation has also moderated since last year. With the RBI monetary policy to be announced next week, we hope that there are

Holcim controlled cement firms ACC and Ambuja Cements have increased payments of technology and knowhow fees to its parent firm to 1% of the net annual sales. This will come into effect from January 1 2013. This proposal will be presented to the members of the company for their consideration at the next company Annual General Meeting (AGM). As of 30 September 2012, Holcim held a 50.67% stake in Ambuja and a 50.3% stake in ACC. Another Holcim subsidiary, PT Holcim Indonesia, also pays royalty (including technical services fees and trademark usage fees) of around 2.1% of sales to the parent. Both companies already make payments to the parent so the incremental impact should amount to less than 1% of sales.