Sensex rally surprises and worries me: FM

Finance Minister P Chidambaram says he is sometimes worried about the steep rise in the Sensex, reports Narayanan Madhavan.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday that he was sometimes worried about the steep rise in the Sensex, admitting to speculators partially driving the 30-share benchmark stock index. But he expected things to cool down.

HT Image

“If the Sensex is doing well despite the politics, why should I complain?” he said at the HT Leadership Summit, but added that the index was only a number and the country won’t invest its future on a number. “But I agree that the rather steep rise in the Sensex sometimes surprises me, sometimes worries me. I don’t think the fundamentals change so rapidly,” the minister said. “...The Sensex is being driven by copious inflows of funds from a number of sources abroad. To some extent, speculators are taking advantage of the rise in the Sensex,” he added.

The minister’s remarks pushed down the index a bit more on a day when profit-booking and end-of-week concerns weighed heavy.