The last week of the year 2012 paved the way for 2013 to gain further momentum on the back of year-end reforms amid indications of more tough stance to be taken by the government to deal with the rising fiscal as well as trade deficit.
Sensex rose by almost 203 points to end the week at 19,444.84, snapping its last 2-week losing streak.
All-round buying led by refineries, realty, power and capital goods, following persistent capital inflows from foreign funds amid sops for exporters announced by the government during the week also boosted the market sentiment.
RIL, ONGC, IOC and BPCL attracted heavy buying following reports that the government might gradually increase the diesel price to cut subsidies.
The possibility of tough reforms after speech of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the National Development Council (NDC) meeting, indicating a phased reduction in energy subsidies, and an early implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) helped the recovery.
The government announced extension of 2 per cent interest subsidy to exporters till March 2014 and a pilot scheme of 2 per cent interest subsidy for project exports through Exim Bank.
The BSE benchmark Sensex resumed higher at 19,278.00 and hovered in a range of 19,504.40 and 19,237.26 before settling the week at 19,444.84, disclosing a net gain of 202.84 points or 1.05 per cent.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also shot up by 60.65 points or 1.04 per cent to 5,908.35.
IT stocks gained as US lawmakers arranged talks with political parties over the budget deficit issue before the deadline.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree during the week by investing net Rs 5,663.20 cr including the provisional figure of December 28.
Asian stocks ended higher on Friday with Japanese shares poised for their biggest annual gain since 2005, after a report fanned speculation that the country’s central bank will respond to government calls for more asset purchases.
Overall, 21 out of 30 Sensex-based scrips closed with gains while others finished with losses.
Major gainers were Bharti Airtel (3.65%), Tata Motors (3.42%), Wipro (3.23%), Tata Power (2.93%), Bajaj Auto (2.36%), Reliance Ind (2.11%), Larsen (1.85%), SBI (1.89%), ONGC (1.82%) and Icici Bank (1.74%).
However, Jindal Steel declined by 1.94%, M&M by 1.40% and HUL by 1.12%.
All 13 sectoral indices settled with gains between 0.02% and 2.05%. The BSE-Oil&Gas rose by 2.05% followed by BSE-Realty 2.02%, BSE-Power 1.68%, BSE-CG 1.58%, BSE-Teck 1.50%, BSE-PSU 1.46%, Bankex 1.27% and BSE-IT 1.13%.
The total turnover at BSE and NSE dropped to Rs 8,780.72 cr and Rs 40,379.64 cr respectively during the truncated week from the previous week’s level of Rs 12,784.27 cr and Rs 63,160.24 cr.
The BSE and NSE were closed on December 25 on account of Christmas.