Among the shares that lost ground today were BPCL, Hindalco and Sterlite Industries. Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra were both up almost 1%, after the companies reported good sales volumes growth for the month of February. Kingfisher Airlines was down more than 8%, after reports suggested that the pilots of the airlines would go on strike for failure to receive salary.

Rising crude continues to be a worry for India according to market observers. Runaway crude prices tends to have an impact on the fiscal deficit and the current account deficit of the country.

Markets are now expected to closely watch the RBI's stance with regards to interest rates on April 17, 2012. It is widely believed that the RBI would cut interest rates going forward. While this would work favourably for the markets, another thing that could benefit is if there is no hawkish statement from the RBI.

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