All was hunky dory on Monday.
British bank Barclays joined the chorus of top global lenders saying that it had a good start to the year. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Deutsche Bank all said similar things last week. Speaking on CBS's "60 Minutes" last weekend, Fed chief Bernanke said that the recession will probably end this year if the government is successful in stabilizing the flailing banking system. All this contributed to global sentiment which had a major influence on the markets over the past few days.
On Monday, the Indian stock market tracked global sentiment and among the Sensex stocks, only 5 ended in the red. But after a good start to the week, the bulls took a breather on Tuesday. The market ended with losses snapping a 3-day winning streak on the back of weak cues from the U.S. and Asian markets. The banking stocks, which had a significant rally in the previous few trading sessions, led the slide, followed by the auto and the oil & gas stocks. This time, 20 of the Sensex stocks ended in negative terrain.
On Wednesday and Thursday the bulls called the shots. Majority of the gains on Wednesday were on the back of global cues and short covering. Mid- and small-cap stocks were also in demand. Though profit booking took place in the second half, the Sensex still closed higher.
On Thursday, the Sensex shut shop above the 9,000 mark for the first time in a month. Though the market took off on a positive note, profit booking and mixed cues from the Asian markets dragged the key indices down. But as the day progressed, the bulls staged a comeback in the last hour of trading.
Though the Sensex booked modest losses on Friday, after witnessing an intra-day swing of 133 points, overall, the week was good. The Sensex closed higher and FIIs too shopped for stocks.
