|
|
Market Eye
| Sensex continues to rise for twelfth straight week | 30/05/2009 10:46:39 | Riding on some fairly strong economic data and high expectations from the newly formed UPA government, the bulls went on a shopping spree on three of the five trading sessions during the week ended May 29, 2009.
Economic indicators from the US were a mixed with some of them triggering a fairly heavy sell-off and the others doing their bit to pull the market out of the red. The Indian market, despite looking shaky at times during the earlier part of the week, largely managed to shrug off negative global cues, thanks to short-covering ahead of May series derivatives expiry and bargain hunting at lower levels.
As the week progressed, the market gained in strength as the bulls stayed tuned to the ring on better-than-expected economic data from US and Japan, strong Indian GDP numbers, the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee's reassurance that sustaining growth momentum will be the top priority of the government, and finally, on hopes of deregulation of fuel prices following Oil Minister Murli Deora's comment on the issue.
The 30-share BSE sensitive index Sensex ended the week with a big gain of 738.10 points or 5.31% at 14,625.25 while the broader 50-stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange closed 210.45 points or nearly 5% up at 4448.95. The Sensex, which has extended its winning run to a twelfth straight week, has gained nearly 6500 points or 80% from a 3-year closing low of 8160.40 it had touched in early May this year.
It was not a great start for the market last week. Notwithstanding a good show around early afternoon, the market ended the opening session of the week on a flat note after a highly choppy ride. Heavy buying in realty, auto and pharma stocks pulled the market out of the red, but then, with investors choosing to exit at higher levels amid weak global cues, the Sensex and Nifty failed to hold gains. North Korea's nuclear test and lack of cues from the home front made life difficult for several blue chip stocks that day.
A strong close on Wall Street, firm Asian markets and better-than-expected gross domestic product data gave the bulls all the ammunition they needed to stay in the hunt on Friday. Besides encouraging GDP numbers, the bulls got another shot in the arm in the form of petroleum minister Murli Deora's comment that his ministry will soon seek Cabinet approval for oil price deregulation.
The positive statement from the minister raised expectations that the government would vigorously push forward economic reforms this time around. The Sensex ended the final session with a thumping gain of 329 points while the Nifty moved up by 112 points.
According to the data released by the government on Friday, India's economy expanded 5.8% in the fourth quarter ended March 2009 compared with a year earlier. Economists were expecting a 5% increase. The GDP grew 6.7% in the year ended March 2009, slowing from 9% in the previous year.
Metal stocks had a good outing last week, thanks to a firm trend in global metal prices. Information technology stocks rose on hopes US economy will soon be back on track. Capital goods stocks, led by heavyweights Larsen & Toubro and BHEL, moved up on strong order books.
PSU oil stocks rallied sharply on the final session on hopes of deregulation of oil prices. Realty stocks gained momentum on expectations of a pick up in demand for homes due to sharp drop in lending rates. A host of stocks from banking, capital goods and consumer durables sectors too had a pretty good week.
Ranbaxy Laboratories ended the week with a hefty gain of 26.2%. Sterlite Industries vaulted 22.6%. DLF zoomed nearly 21%. Jaiprakash Associates gained close to 20%. Reliance Infrastructure, ONGC, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindalco, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, ACC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries also closed on a high note last week. Wipro, HDFC and Tata Power gained 2.5% - 3.5%. ITC ended flat.
Idea Cellular, Unitech, SAIL, Reliance Power, Siemens, Reliance Petroleum, GAIL India, Reliance Capital, Cairn India, Suzlon Energy, BPCL, ABB, Hero Honda, Axis Bank and Punjab National Bank ended with sharp to moderate gains. Ambuja Cements closed little changed from its previous week's closing price.
Sun Pharmaceuticals, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Tata Motors and Grasim Industries ended with sharp to moderate losses. Nifty stock Tata Communications fell nearly 20% last week. Power Grid Corporation and Nalco also closed on a weak note.
Mirroring strong buying in midcap and smallcap segments, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices moved up by 6.33% and 8.59% respectively.
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Realty flared up by over 15%. The Metal index jumped 11.68% and the Consumer Durables index ended nearly 10% up. BSE PSU surged 9.79%. BSE Auto, Bankex, IT, Oil & Gas, Power and CG moved up by 5% - 7.5%. BSE Teck and HC closed higher by 2.06% and 1.74% respectively while the FMCG barometer edged up by 0.77%. | Market
Eye List
|
