Sensex ends the week at over 19-month high

The Sensex ended the week at a fresh over 19-month high of 19,424.10 buoyed by the Government’s victory in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on the FDI issue.

The market resumed the week with a cautious approach as wary investors decided to play safe ahead of the key vote on FDI in multi-brand retail in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Lack of a clear direction from global markets at the beginning of the week also did not help the domestic market.

However, the market got a boost after the Opposition motion against FDI in retail got defeated in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday as BSP and SP members walked out, while BSP Chief Mayawati lent support to the Government in the Rajya Sabha on Friday to vote in favour of FDI in multi-brand retail.

According to market participants, the market turned negative on Friday as the passing of FDI issue in the Rajya Sabha, after smooth passage in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, was already factored in and wary investors went on profit-booking at higher levels.

Buying was mainly across-the-board, as only two out of 13 sectoral indices closed in the red while others finished in the green with realty, refinery, power and metal leading the pack.

BSE-IT and BSE-TECk indices closed with marked losses after dollar dropped against the rupee as also on concerns that the US-based Cognizant Technology may lower its revenue growth guidance for 2013.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed almost stable but later moved erratically in a range of 19,561.87 and 19,186.24 before ending the week at 19,424.10, showing a rise of 84.20 points or 0.44 per cent.

Last week, the Sensex had registered its biggest weekly gain in absolute terms by over 833 points or 4.5 per cent, highest since last week of November 2011.

The broad-based NSE 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty also improved further by 27.55 points or 0.47 per cent to 5,907.40.

On Thursday, it had ended at a 23-month high of 5,930.90, highest closing since January 6, 2011 when it had closed at 6,048.25.

Some positive developments also kept the market tempo upbeat. Morgan Stanley raised India’s growth forecast for FY’13 to 5.4 per cent from 5.1 per cent projected earlier.

HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) — a measure of factory production — registered the fastest pace in five months and stood at 53.7 in November.

Among the top heavyweights and petrochem giant, RIL shot up by 5.08 per cent on the back of media reports that the Oil Ministry is expected to approve the company’s investment plans for the KG-D6 block.

Auto counters attracted good buying support at the fag end of the week after Maruti Suzuki rose to a one-year high after the company said that it will hike the prices of vehicles across all models by up to Rs 20,000 from January.

Kishor P. Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research Ltd, said: “Even though FDI was through in the Rajya Sabha, markets have given up some gains on Friday. Profit-booking was seen. Nifty’s support lies at 5,830 and resistance is at 6,070.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) infused Rs 5,134.95 crore in the week, including provisional data of December 7.

Buying was seen mainly in second-line stocks, indicating more retail participation. As a result, the BSE-Smallcap and BSE-Midcap indices outperformed the Sensex and spurted by 2.34 per cent and 2.44 per cent, respectively.

After the passage of FDI issue in both the Houses, the market is now looking for further financial reforms, a broker said.

The market is also waiting for the two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on interest rates in the US on December 11-12 for future action.

Overall, 17 shares from the Sensex pack closed with gains while others finished with losses.

Other major gainers were SBI 6.49 per cent, Hindalco 6.45 per cent, BHEL 4.09 per cent, Sterlite Ind 4.01 per cent, ICICI Bank 2.94 per cent, Tata Motors 2.75 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 2.48 per cent, Tata Steel 2.46 per cent, Tata Power 2.00 per cent, Jindal Steel 1.85 per cent, ITC 1.07 per cent and ONGC 1.00 per cent.

However, Infosys dipped 4.80 per cent, Bharti Airtel 4.37 per cent, TCS 3.42 per cent, Wipro 3.41 per cent, HDFC Bank 1.58 per cent, Sun Pharma 1.44 per cent, NTPC 1.33 per cent and HUL by 1.38 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Realty shot up by 5.18 per cent followed by BSE-Oil & Gas 3.13 per cent, BSE-Power 2.52 per cent, BSE-Metal 2.07 per cent, Bankex 1.66 per cent and BSE-CG 1.44 per cent, while BSE-IT tumbled 4.14 per cent and BSE-TECk by 3.31 per cent.

Total turnover on the BSE and NSE improved further to Rs 12,113.55 crore and Rs 64,751.03 crore from Rs 11,966.64 crore and Rs 62,786.40 crore, respectively.

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