Mkts cold to FM's fiscal plan,end 10 pts up on RBI policy eve

The BSE benchmark Sensex today surrendered most of its early gains on buoyancy after Cabinet reshuffle to end just 10 points up as markets were unimpressed by government's five-year fiscal consolidation roadmap which was announced a day before RBI's policy meeting tomorrow.

After resuming on a positive note, the Sensex went up over 118 points to touch the day's high of 18,743.41 on the back of optimism over the reshuffle of Cabinet on Sunday.

The momentum, however, could not be sustained due to choppy trade in interest-rate sensitive stocks. The Sensex finally ended at 18,635.82, just 10.48 points up largely on account of rise in RIL and ITC shares.

Weakness in global stocks on concerns over the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the US this week, downbeat corporate earnings and capital outflows, also dampened sentiments.
The National Stock Exchange index Nifty ended 1.30 points up at 5,665.60, after moving between 5,698.30 and 5,645.10.

Worried over high budget deficit derailing growth, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today unveiled a five-year road map for fiscal consolidation to promote investments, contain inflation and take India to high growth trajectory.

"The roadmap is a step in right direction, but it lacks detail...timing of these announcements also suggests growing political pressure on RBI to cut rates tomorrow. In absence of any credible plan to lower fiscal deficit, we stick to our view of no repo rate cut tomorrow," Nomura India said.

Capital goods, realty, power and banks saw selling while refinery, consumer durables and pharma saw buying. The rupee was under pressure and went below 54-mark against the dollar.

Bhel was the worst performer today among 30-share Sensex losing over 6 per cent due to disappointing earnings and order book growth, said dealers. Sterlite, Tata Motors, CIL, L&T and HUL also fell. IT major Wipro, the best performer, gained over 2.5 per cent, led by Hero MotoCorp, Tata Power, Dr Reddy's and RIL.