Globally,
The US markets closed flat in another lacklustre session, following a pair of
mixed economic reports and ahead of Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's speech on
Friday at Jackson Hole.
Despite
the lacklustre trading session, all the three major indices are poised to log
their first August gains since 2009. Home prices rose in June for the fifth
month in a row, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index.
However, consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in August to its lowest level
since last November.GDP for the second quarter is expected to grow to 1.7%. And
pending home sales may show a 1% growth in July after a contraction of 1.4% in
June.
European markets ended lower amid ongoing global
economic worries and ahead of the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium at the
end of the week. In Spain, the recession is much deeper than feared. Data
released shows the Spanish economy contracted by 1.3% in the second quarter of
this year. This is worse than what analysts had predicted.
Domestically,
India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined by US$250 million to
US$288.91 billion for the week ended Aug 17, 2012, the Reserve Bank of India's
(RBI) data showed. The reserves had increased by US$17.8 million to US$289.16
billion for the week ended Aug 10, 2012. The reserves had earlier risen by
US$502.2 million to US$289.15 billion for the week ended Aug 3, 2012. The
Reserve Bank of India is believed to have sold dollars during these weeks to
curb the slide in the rupee's value. The partially convertible rupee slumped by
25 paise against the US dollar and stood at 55.39 against a
US
dollar has weakened sharply in the last two months due to increased demands
from oil importers and outflow of money by the foreign institutional investors
as poor GDP growth data dampened sentiments in the Indian markets. Foreign
currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty in the week
under review fell by US$263 million to US$256.65 billion, according to the
weekly statistical supplement released by the RBI. Foreign currency assets had
declined by US$34.1 million to $256.91 billion for the week ended Aug 10, 2012.
The RBI in a statement said that foreign currency assets in US dollar terms
included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held
in reserve, such as the pound sterling, euro and yen.
Comments
Post a Comment