The week brought in plenty of action for the Indian cricket fans and investors. The sheer excitement of the World Cup Finals seems to have enthused the bellwether Sensex to climb back to the 19,000 levels, to close the week 600 points higher. Here's a recap of the conversations in the studio:

Prarthana: Three cheers for the Indian team!

Vedant: Applaud the retail investors too. They seem to have an unshaken faith on markets. Reminds me of the confidence the Prime Minister has in his cabinet…

Prarthana: But I thought the retail investors were the first to throw in their towel?

Vedant: Well, a recent Morgan Stanley study on investor confidence in the stock market reveals that retail investors are turning bullish about the markets. They are predicting a 14 per cent rally in Sensex by end of the year.

Prarthana: Markets are too dicey. I have my own reservations on any positive outlook for the market.

Vedant: Getting too pessimistic is also not going to pay. Large foreign institutions are shopping for stocks in the Indian market and pouring in money. I think the tension in the MENA region is directing institutional money to safer harbours.

Prarthana : With FDI norms being relaxed by the government some amount of money will come through FDI route too now, won't it?

Vedant : Policy changes are just done, so one has to only wait and watch. However, the most sought after change in retail FDI policy didn't happen…

Prarthana: The market however didn't react any significantly to these changes, if you had observed it closed almost flat on Friday. The week's gainers were all from beaten down sectors this week. The telecom and infrastructure stocks were in fore leading the rally.

Vedant: True. Bharti Airtel, DB Realty, DLF, IL&FS Transportation Networks were a few that made some spectacular gains this week. PTC Financial, the stock that made its debut this the week listed at a discount. It lost 11 per cent down on the listing day itself!

Prarthana: The market isn't great for IPOs now… Voltas' JV with a company in the Sultanate of Oman and the Andhra Paper Mills majority stake purchase by US-based International Paper were the other major corporate events this week. While the stock price of Voltas did not react much, AP Paper Mills hit the 20 per cent upper circuit on Wednesday.

Vedant: Hmmm… the index behemoth Reliance Industries too managed some gains after it won two blocks in the ninth around of oil and gas block auctions. Interestingly, Mukesh Ambani is now eyeing Anil's turf – Reliance Industries announced its foray into financial services.

Prarthana: Oh! Is the Big Bro doing it alone?

Vedant: No. The company is partnering with D.E. Shaw for this. Now that the non-compete clause is scrapped, there will be more party and more noise!

Prarthana: Yeah, let the action begin!

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