The markets continued their northbound journey for the third consecutive week and closed on a five week high. Both the BSE sensex and CNX Nifty surged and closed at 634 and 197 points respectively.
The Sensex opened higher at 27,416.97 and scaled the 28,000 mark to an intra-day high of 28,071.16, before closing at 27,957.50 a sharp gain of 633.50 points, or 2.31%.The last time it breached the 28,ooo mark was on April 17 this year when it posted 28,442.10 points. It has gained 946.19 points, or 3.50 %, in the straight three weeks. Overall, 24 out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher while the rest winded down. Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and TCS were the major gainers, while Tata Steel was the top loser after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 5,674.29 crore this quarter.
Those who performed below par included SBI,Cipla , Vedanta, and Tata Motors. Among BSE sectoral indices, IT shot up 4.72 %, technology (4.01 %), healthcare (3.3 %), consumer goods (2.68 %), consumer durables (2.21%) , oil & gas (1.89 %) and banking (1.33 %). The total turnover during the week on the BSE rose to Rs 16,150.27 crore, from 14,906.88 crore last week, while for NSE, it fell to Rs 79,727.06 crore from the earlier 83,249.06 crore.
Similarly, the broad-based 50-issue NSE Nifty moved in a range of 8,489.55 10 points shy of the 8,500 mark and 8,271.95, before signing off at 8,458.95, a smart gain of 196.60 points, or 2.38 %.
The Nifty gained 277.45 points, or 3.39%, in the three straight weeks. It had last ended at 8,606.00 on April 17, 2015. Buying was seen mainly in key stocks as second-line shares attracted less buying interest from retail investors and their indices underperformed the Sensex. The BSE Smallcap and the BSE Midcap rose 0.53% and 1.51%, respectively.
The markets kept their tempo on a host of positive factors which amongst others included the government's announcement of contanining the fiscal deficit at 4% of GDP for 2014-15, expectations of a rate cut by RBI following cooling inflation and forecast of a timely monsoon . The total turnover during the week on the BSE rose to Rs 16,150.27 crore, from 14,906.88 crore last week, while for NSE, it fell to Rs 79,727.06 crore from the earlier 83,249.06 crore.Fresh investments by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) also buoyed market sentiment as they net bought shares worth Rs 230 crore, according to market regulator data.
On the overseas front, most Asian markets ended the week in the positive terrain on signs of fresh investment from Beijing amid a record close on the Wall Street during the week, with prospects of a Federal Reserve rate hike in June evaporating fast. A strong rise in European markets after the European Central Bank (ECB) proposed that it may "frontload" its one trillion euro bond-buying slightly to account for lower market liquidity in high summer also gave the markets here some comfort. Back home, next week, the last batch of quarterly earnings, trend in global markets, investment by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), the movement of rupee against the dollar and crude oil price movement will dictate the trend on the bourses. The market may remain choppy as traders roll over positions in the futures and options segment from the near month May 2015 to June 2015 series. The May 2015 F&O contracts expire on Thursday, May 28, 2015.
