Aggressive buying by foreign funds coupled with hectic short-coverings by operators amid firm global cues helped the benchmark Sensex rally for the second successive week by gaining another 605 points to end the week at 19,420.39.

Realty, consumer durables and auto counters attracted good buying support. Small-cap and mid-cap counters also shot up on the back of renewed support from investors.

The main reason behind the sustained rally in share values was continued buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which pumped in Rs 8,548.14 crore in the eight trading sessions from March 22 to March 31 as per data from the stock exchanges.

Looking at the frenzied buying by FIIs, operators as well as retail investors also stepped in to cover up their short positions and also created long positions.

Buying was seen across segments as all the indices closed with gains of between 1.54 per cent and 7.15 per cent. Short-coverings by operators following the expiry of March derivatives contract on March 31 boosted the market sentiment. But year-end churning of positions by traders led to volatility.

Interest rate sensitive counters from consumer durables, realty, banking and auto segments attracted good buying on easing global crude oil prices from a recent 2-1/2-year high which would help ease inflation worries.

The market also surged as the Government has decided to relax the rules for foreign direct investment (FDI) and to permit the issuance of equity to overseas firms against imported capital goods and machinery.

Meanwhile, food inflation fell to a single digit of 9.5 per cent for the week ended March 19 from 10.05 per cent in the previous week.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also shot up by another 171.8 points or 3.04 per cent to end at 5,826.05.

Among the major indices, the BSE-Realty index was up by 7.15 per cent followed by the BSE-Consumer Durables 5.97 per cent, the BSE-Auto 5.74 per cent and the BSE-Power by 3.3 per cent.

Small-cap and Mid-cap indices also shot up by 4.46 per cent and 3.89 per cent, respectively. All the 30-scrips from the Sensex pack ended higher.

India’s largest realty firm by market capitalisation DLF rose 9.13 per cent. Other gainers were Maurti 7.83 per cent, Hero Honda 7.52 per cent, Reliance Infra 6.72 per cent, HDFC 6.56 per cent, ONGC 6.24 per cent, Bajaj Auto 5.71 per cent, M&M 5.55 per cent, Jaiprakash Associates 5.48 per cent, Jindal Steel 5.24 per cent and Tata Motors 5.16 per cent.

The total turnover at the BSE and NSE was Rs 16,259.86 crore and Rs 69,176.32 crore, respectively against the last week-end level of Rs 17,115.75 crore and Rs 50,919,34 crore.

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