Cheer for inflation?

Range bound movements were seen in the domestic markets last week The global markets were the major movers and shakers Sensex and Nifty closed up around 3 per cent each on a weekly basis Nifty has resistance at 7273 7306 and chances of moving above these levels are very remote On the other hand support for Nifty lies at 7152 and 6949 a decisive move below these levels can bring the market down towards a panic situationPrice statisticsLast Monday the countryrsquos wholesales prices came out for January which fell for the 15th straight month The Wholesale Price Inflation WPI declined 09 per cent annually and the data was at 073 per cent in December The November figure was revised to 204 per cent from 199 per cent The food articles inflation for the period under review was at 817 per cent compared to 602 per cent in DecemberThe primary articles inflation was at 463 per cent versus 548 per cent last month and manufacturing products inflation was 117 per cent compared to 136 per cent last month Retail inflation for January also came out last week which saw a rise for the fifth consecutive month The CPI inched up to 569 per cent from 561 per cent in December Retail food inflation for the month under review stood at 685 per cent compared to 64 per cent in December Fuel inflation was at 532 per centKey dataAs the manufacturing sector continued to be in negative territory the countryrsquos Index of Industrial Production IIP for December contracted 13 per cent on a yearly basis According to data the cumulative industrial output for April to December 2015 was up 31 per cent and in November it contracted 32 per cent which was the sharpest fall in four years In December the manufacturing output declined 24 per cent whereas the mining and electricity output rose 29 per cent and 32 per cent respectivelyConsumer durables production posted a 165 per cent rise while consumer non durables output fell 32 per cent in December The contraction in imports along with the exports of the country falling for 14 consecutive months made the trade gap to narrow to an 11month low in JanuaryExports were down 136 per cent to 2107 billion and imports fell 11 per cent to 2871 billion from a year ago period leaving the trade deficit to 763 billionEarlier the data was low in February 2015 at 684 billion Gold imports rose 85 per cent to 291 billion last month as compared to a 179 per cent increase in December and oil imports were down 39 per cent to 502 billionBetting bigMoodyrsquos investor services in the last week said the Indian economy will grow at 75 per cent in 2016 and 2017 with not many problems But the prevailing banksrsquo NonPerforming Asset NPA corporate debt and inflation may have its own role to play On the other end Japanese financial services firm Nomura said the country might witness a 78 per cent growth in the next fiscalAccording to a study mutual funds were seen increasing their exposure in many companies on a quarterly basis Some companies which saw increase in the stake include Bata India GMDC Dish TV Arvind LTD Kansai Nerolac Ramco cements Finolex Industries Pfizer and the Indian hotels The MFs invested close to R 70000 crore into domestic equities in 2015 as compared to R 28000 crore and R 74000 crore in 2014 and 2013Global cuesOn the global front the markets remained in a mixed trend as of weak earnings report and crude oil prices The positive moves on the markets were on the hope that central banks around the globe may step to support the economy Rally in the banks supported the markets to an extentNikkei manufacturing PMI inflation core inflation and CPI are the data on the Japanese front Market manufacturing PMI inflation core inflation industrial sentiment business sentiment and consumer confidence will be triggers for European markets