Indian News Headlines..(16/10/08)

Rebound for Indian Stock Market?

Due to the massive increase in food and energy prices, India's headline inflation has been surging rapidly. Wholesale prices rose from 3.83% in late-2007 to a multi-year record high of 11.91% in early-July 2008. Duggal expects commodity prices and, consequently, inflation to moderate as global demand slows. He also expects the tightening monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India to help ease inflationary pressures.

"As the recent interest rate hikes need time to take effect, inflation may rise further before peaking later this year, and then fall," says Duggal, who is an investment director at Halbis, the active-investment specialist of HSBC Global Asset Management.

Fear of a severe economic downturn has been one of the major triggers of the recent correction in India's stock market, which has been the case for most markets in the region. Slowing global growth and soaring oil prices have led to lower growth estimates. India's GDP growth is expected to slow from 9.1% in the fiscal year 2008 to around 7.5% to 8% in the fiscal year 2009.

Markets lose all gains

Markets were back in the red on Wednesday as investors begin to face the likelihood that serious dislocations will plague the global economy despite the coordinated bailouts. The Sensex lost 654 points to end at 10,889. Shares in New York fell, following markets in Europe and Asia earlier in the day.

HC raps Centre on gay issue

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for relying on religious texts to justify the prohibition on gay sex in the country and asked it to come up with scientific reports to justify it. The Court’s remarks came when the additional solicitor general, P.P. Malhotra was referring to an article condemning gay sex by quoting Bible.

"We should not accept religious literature instead of scientific report," said a bench headed by chief justice A.P. Shah. The bench, also comprising Justice S. Muralidhar, asked the government to place before it the reports of the World Health Organisation on the issue of health hazards arising out of criminalisation of gay sex.