The
spectacular Ganesh immersions are over. Markets world over remain
immersed in the red as the European-driven volatility has led to
investors fleeing equities for perceived safer havens. One can only hope
that at least some of the troubles do a vanishing act before hitting
our shores.
Asian stocks are trading much lower
today. The Nikkei is down around 2%. South Korean, Taiwanese and
mainland Chinese markets are shut for the day.
The start will expectedly be deep in the
red. We have important events lined up, including IIP data, August
inflation and Advance Tax numbers. Critical among them will be the RBI
policy meet. The RBI has hiked benchmark rates 11 times since March 2010
and expectations are of another increase.
On Friday the Dow shed almost 3% as
rumors of a possible Greek default was doing the rounds. The resignation
of European Central Bank board member Juergen Stark has not been taken
well by the market. He was a proponent of higher interest rates and his
exit is seen as a possible sign of policy dispute at the ECB.
