Stock Market at a Glance

Overall the market continued its upward direction posting 1.87% gains WoW. Volume jumped by a significant 22% as trading in second/third tier stocks picked up. The upward momentum was helped by reported news flow on restructuring of Dewan Group and its bank borrowings. This led to excitement on not only Dewan Group companies but also saw sporadic interest in banks on hopes of potential reversal of provisions booked against the loans. The excitement appears a bit premature in our view given nascent stage of discussions. On the flip side, while foreign portfolio flows depicted a 48% decline (US$11.9mn) WoW, sentiments were also hurt by news reports regarding the name of a leading broker being put on the exit control list. On the macro front, inflation continued to remain punchy at 15.48% YoY for the month of November 2010, while the government slashed PSDP allocations by 50%. OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE