The benchmark key indices surged amid alternate bouts of buying and selling ahead of the trust vote in parliament to be held on Tuesday, 22 July 2008. Healthcare stocks were in demand. Banking stocks notched up modest gains even as capital goods shares declined.

As per provisional closing, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 214.64 points or 1.57% at 13,850.04. At days high of 13,878.88, the index gained 243.48 points in the mid-afternoon trade. The index shed 54.21 points at the days low of 13,581.19, it hit in the early trade.

The broader based S&P; CNX Nifty advanced 67.25 points or 1.64% at 4159.50.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.34% at 5,256.99, while the BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.28% at 6,437.98.

The market breadth was weak on BSE with 1164 shares advancing as compared to 1367 that declined. 85 remained unchanged.

The top Sensex gainers were, Cipla (up 5.20% at Rs 226.45), HDFC Bank (up 4.78% at Rs 1082.95), Ranbaxy laboratories (up 4.74% at Rs 458.20), NTPC (up 4.70% at Rs 181.45), and Maruti Suzuki (up 3.92% at Rs 648.20).

Top Sensex losers were, Satyam Computer (down 4.14% at Rs 367.10), Ambuja Cements (down 2.17% at Rs 81), Bharat Heavy Electricals (down 1.56% at Rs 1506.45), Larsen & Toubro (down 1.26% at Rs 2513.05), Bharti Airtel (down 0.44% at Rs 798.45).

Indias second largest listed telecom services provider by sales Reliance Communication rose 2.62% to Rs 446.60, after it called off tie-up talks with South Africa's MTN Group, Africa's biggest mobile phone group, citing legal issues.

Indias largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 1.92% to Rs 2,153.30.

Indias second largest software exporter by sales Infosys Techologies rose 0.88% to Rs 1,561.80.

Indias largest private sector bank by assets ICICI Bank rose 4.29% to Rs 644.10.

Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) slumped 14.81% to Rs 93.45 on a huge volume of 1.33 crore shares on BSE. The stock slumped on concerns it may have to raise additional capital of $250 millionl. A central bank requirement for finance firms to increase capital to 15% of assets, from 10%, will force IDFC to sell stock, Morgan Stanley said in a note. As per reports, ratings companies have asked IDFC to maintain its leverage ratio at five times its capital if it wants to keep its triple A credit rating.

European markets, which opened lower, turned positive as the session proceeded. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were up by between 0.17% to 0.89%.

Asian stocks rose sharply on Monday, 21 July 2008, as concerns about the global impact of a weak US financial sector eased after Citigroup, the largest US bank on Friday, 18 July 2008, reported a second-quarter loss of $2.5 billion, which was smaller than expected. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were 2.51% to 3.97%. Markets in Japan were closed for a public holiday.

US stocks finished mixed on Friday, 18 July 2008. Favorable results from No. 1 US bank Citigroup and technology leader IBM drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher, but the Nasdaq fell on disappointing results from tech icons Google and Microsoft. The Dow closed up 49.91 points, or 0.44%, at 11,496.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 0.34 points, or 0.03%, at 1,260.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 29.52 points, or 1.28%, at 2,282.78.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today, 21 July 2008, morning moved the confidence motion in Lok Sabha. Earlier, Dr Singh asserted that his government will win the vote of confidence

The government is seeking a vote of confidence in parliament in a special two-day session of the parliament starting today after it was reduced to minority following withdrawal of support of Left parties early this month. Voting will take place tomorrow.

Media reports suggest that the government has wafer-thin edge of winning the trust vote. If the government wins the confidence vote it will continue to be in power. If it the government loses the trust vote, the president could ask the prime minister to continue in power as a caretaker government. The Election Commission of India will then fix a date and mid-term polls will be held.

Another possibility in case the government loses the trust vote is that the opposition may try to form an interim government before the scheduled May 2009 election. However, this is an unlikely scenario given that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said it would prefer elections if the government falls

Crude prices edged up on Monday, 21 July 2008 but remained below $130 a barrel as talks between world powers and nuclear ambitious Iran, the fourth largest oil exporter, proved inconclusive.

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