The general consensus this week was that the markets appear to have already discounted the worst on the sub-prime mess. Action by the central banks across the globe helped revive investors' confidence. Moreover, the fundamentals of the Indian economy stay strong.
The first trading day of the month was good - the seventh consecutive day that the Sensex advanced. JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Essar Steel all rose on the back of the news that Tata Steel plans to increase the prices of hot-rolled coils this month because of rising demand.
Tuesday marked the eighth consecutive day that the major indices rose. Cipla, which has been the worst Sensex performer this year, too gained a bit over these two days. RIL gained on the back of its majority stake in GAPCO. Infosys, TCS and Satyam gained but Wipro lost.
Wednesday saw the bulls halt in their tracks. But infotech stocks, including Wipro, rose.
On Thursday, the bulls were back in action. Cement stocks like ACC, Ambuja Cement, Mangalam Cement and India Cement rallied. From this day, Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd and Sasken Communications Technologies along with 12 other stocks will be allowed to trade in derivatives. Media reports spoke of an increase in cement prices in Pakistan making Indian imports unattractive. The Indian government has plans to import cement to lower the rise in price and increase availability in the domestic market.
On last day of trading, the bears had the final say.
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This week RIL was in the news after the company acquired a majority stake and management control of Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO), a company which has a significant presence in East Africa in the petroleum downstream sector. Reliance Energy and Grasim Industries were the topmost performing Sensex stocks with a return of 9.06% and 8.41% (when compared to last week's close). Bharti Airtel was the worst.
BSE IT Index rose the entire week to slump on Friday. Wipro lost but Satyam, Infosys and TCS gained. BSE Bankex dropped on Thursday but did well on Friday. SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank all ended in positive territory. BSE Healthcare rose all through the week to slip on Friday but Cipla, Dr Reddy's and Ranbaxy ended in positive territory.
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