Friday seems to be a special day for the markets and there is always some news or event, which moves the market significantly. Friday, April 20, we had these two trades, which caught the market by surprise. Infosys futures traded at Rs 1,950 against the current price of Rs 2,400. Of course, the price recovered and it hardly affected the day’s trade. In the afternoon, NIFTY futures, which were trading around 5,330 saw trades being executed at a level of 5,000 and unlike Infosys, which recovered completely, here the recovery was substantial but not total. Markets were confused as to what happened but the trade was computer driven or ‘algorithmic’ trade. The matching of the trade was a split second late and hence there were freak trades, which happened, but enough to trigger stop losses and create panic. The question is: if this is what has happened in a matter of a split second difference; imagine what could happen if there is a gap of a couple of seconds or two persons trying to match a trade in the same NIFTY at the same time?

Oh, dear, they are dearer: Vegetables get pricier, hitting the common man hard