Notwithstanding some heavy profit taking at times, the market extended its winning streak to the sixth successive week by recording strong gains on three of the four sessions last week (April 13 - 17). The market was closed on Tuesday on account of Dr Ambedkar Jayanti.
Fairly strong global markets, falling inflation and reasonably good inflow of funds from foreign institutional investors were the significant factors that contributed to the market's upmove last week.
The Sensex, despite suffering a hefty loss of 337 points on Thursday, ended the week with a gain of 219.23 points or 2.03% at 11,02309. The Sensex, which tumbled by over 100 points on Thursday, closed with a gain of 42.35 points or 1.26% at 3384.40. Following sustained buying at several side counters, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed stronger by 3.4% and 4.88% respectively.
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The Wall Street investors were betting on hopes that the US economy would soon be back on the rails. Asian markets took cues and surged higher. The unveiling of a 15.4 billion yen stimulus plan by the Japanese government and the statement from the Chinese central bank that stimulus measures initiated by the Chinese Government were beginning to show results also aided the rally.
Infosys Technologies reported a 1.7% fall in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. More than the drop in revenues, the company's forecast of a 3.1% - 6.7% decline in revenue for the year ending March 2010 caused the stock's sharp decline on Wednesday.
The Sensex cruised past the psychological 11,000 mark in late afternoon trade on Monday as the bulls, on a roll for the past few sessions, held sway once again. Stocks from metal, banking, realty and auto sectors had a splendid ride up the charts and there were smart gains for a host of stocks from capital goods, PSU, pharma and infrastructure sectors as well. It was a bright day for a number of midcap and smallcap stocks too.
The Sensex, which opened with a positive gap of around 113 points at 10,916.43 and very nearly breached the 11,000 mark in early trade, suffered a setback of sorts and tumbled to 10,800.84 within the next few minutes.
However, as investors shrugged off the fall and started picking up stocks, the barometer spent the rest of the session rather comfortably in the positive territory.
Notwithstanding a spell of profit taking, the Sensex ended the day with a big gain of 163 points at 10,967.22 and the Nifty moved up by over 40 points at 3382.60 that day. The positive trend on the Asian bourses following the Chinese and Japanese governments stepping up government spending in order to revive the economy, and higher US index futures kept the mood buoyant on Monday.
On Wednesday, the bulls turned in a bit late, but then, so strong was their presence that their rivals were seen running for cover till the end of the session. Global cues were not significantly positive and IT bellwether Infosys Technologies' earnings guidance for financial year 2010 was also not encouraging.
Still, betting on hopes global economy would soon be back on track, participants picked up realty, capital goods, bank and auto stocks in a frenzied manner. Forecast of a good monsoon and expectations that the Apex bank would come out with some monetary measures following the sharp drop in inflation were among the factors that contributed to the enthusiasm during that session.
The Sensex, which shot up to 11,337.75 during the final hour, ended the day with a big gain of 318 points, while the Nifty closed with an impressive gain of 102 points.
The positive close on Wall Street and the steady trend on some Asian bourses triggered a bright start, but heavy profit taking after recent strong gains pushed the market down sharply into the red and the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty went tumbling down by 337 points and 115 points respectively on Thursday.
Inflation dropped down again raising hopes of some monetary easing measures from the Apex Bank. But political uncertainty weighed in significantly and prompted investors to go in for some heavy profit taking.
On Friday too, investors were seen booking profits at several counters. Weakness in European markets and lower US index futures also rendered the market sluggish in afternoon trade. The Sensex, which had vaulted nearly 400 points around noon, plunged sharply into the red during the final hour. However, with select blue chip stocks garnering a bit of support during the fag end of the session, the barometer managed to sign off with a modest gain of 76 points. The Nifty moved up by around 15 points.
Realty stocks had a good run last week on hopes of reduction in interest rates and a strong pick up in demand for new homes. Auto stocks swung back into action on hopes of higher demand for vehicles. Bank stocks had a good week on expectations that credit off-take will rise significantly over the next few quarters.
IT, pharma and FMCG stocks remained subdued for a better part of the week. Metal stocks rose sharply during the first part of the week but dropped down on profit taking later on.
State Bank of India, the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack last week, moved up by 14.6%. ICICI Bank ended with a sharp gain of 11%. HDFC Bank, which remained relatively subdued, finished with a modest gain of 2.1%.
BHEL moved up by nearly 10%. Sun Pharmaceuticals, HDFC, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro and ACC gained 4% - 7%. Mahindra & Mahindra, DLF, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Communications, Grasim Industries and Hindustan Unilever surged 2% - 4%. Bharti Airtel gained 1.5%. Reliance Infrastructure gained modest ground while ITC and Wipro ended flat.
Hindalco went down by 6.7%. Tata Consultancy Services lost 5%. ONGC, Infosys Technologies, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Jaiprakash Associates, Sterlite Industries and Reliance Industries also ended weak. NTPC and Tata Power declined marginally.
Unitech zoomed 25.2% after the company mobilised over Rs 1600 crore through a qualified institutional placement of shares. Axis Bank, Reliance Capital and ABB ended higher by 12.9%, 11.9% and 11.4% respectively. Punjab National Bank, HCL Technologies, Siemens, Hero Honda and Ambuja Cements also closed on a firm note last week. Nalco, Cairn India, Tata Communications, GAIL India, SAIL, Reliance Power and Idea Cellular ended weak.
Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of auto major Mahindra and Mahindra, won the bid for Satyam Computer. The government nominated Satyam Board chose Tech Mahindra as the successful bidder following its bid of Rs 1,757 crore for 31 per cent stake in the scam-tainted IT giant. Tech Mahindra offered Rs 58 for each Satyam share.
Source: sify.com
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