Punjab, Oct. 23 -- The Sensex fell for a fourth straight session on Friday, closing at 73,123.83, down about 125 points. The Nifty ended at 22,600. The reason is one number: crude is near 114 dollars, the highest since May.
The oil number
Track it across this month. Brent was below 100 dollars on 5 October. It went above 104 by the 8th, eased, climbed towards 107 by the 14th, and is now near 114.
That is a 14 per cent move in under three weeks for a country that imports more than 85 per cent of its crude. It arrives with September CPI already at a 23-month high of 5.54 per cent and the repo rate at 5.50 per cent.
India VIX rose about 6 per cent on Friday. Foreign investors kept selling.
Four days down, and what changed
A fortnight ago...