Comments
In a week marked by volatility, the BSE Sensex managed to end in the green even as higher auto and cement sales in March, strong macroeconomic data and expectations of normal monsoon were offset by a rise in crude prices to a two-and-a-half-year high.
Small and mid-cap stocks were the flavour of the week. The market logged gains for the third straight week on sustained buying by foreign funds.
The 30-share Sensex moved up further by 31.06 points or 0.16 per cent to end the week at 19,451.45. The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 15.95 points or 0.27 per cent to 5,842.
The BSE Mid-Cap index advanced by 2.73 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index surged by 4.96 per cent.
Profit-booking emerged after the market scaled a three-month high as crude oil prices hovered near two-and-a-half-year high, which sparked inflation and interest rate worries, affecting the corporate earnings.
The International Monetary Fund warned that the global economy was entering a period of scarcer oil that could drive the prices up rapidly.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) declined by 1.07 per cent to Rs 1,024.25. However, the country’s largest power equipment maker by sales, BHEL, surged by 4.11 per cent to Rs 2,200.75 and was the top weekly gainer from the Sensex pack.
Meanwhile, food inflation fell to 9.18 per cent during the week ended March 26, the lowest level in almost four months, on the back of a decline in the prices of pulses.
Among the other indices, the BSE-Capital Goods index shot up by 2.97 per cent, the BSE-Realty index 2.77 per cent, the BSE-Consumer Durable index 2.33 per cent, the BSE-Power index 1.34 per cent and the BSE-Healthcare index by 1.07 per cent.
The dollex-200 and dollex-100 indices also ended higher by 1.81 per cent and 1.58 per cent, respectively. However, the BSE-Oil & Gas index fell by 91.73 points or 0.9 per cent.
India’s largest bike maker by sales, Hero Honda Motors, gained 3.8 per cent on the back of rise in sales. The country’s top tractor and utility vehicles maker by sales, Mahindra & Mahindra, also rose 2.49 per cent.
Other gainers were State Bank of India (2.19 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.88 per cent), L&T (1.5 per cent) and TCS (1.29 per cent). However, realty major DLF dropped by 4.37 per cent, while Bajaj Auto lost 3.13 per cent, NTPC 2.78 per cent, HUL 2.71 per cent, REL Infra 2.40 per cent, Wipro 2.19 per cent and Hindalco Industries 1.96 per cent.
The total turnover on the BSE and NSE was Rs 17,812.38 crore and Rs 64,809.64 crore, respectively, against the previous week’s level of Rs 16,259.86 crore and Rs 69,176.32 crore.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.