Both the Sensex and the Nifty closed lower than the previous week after rising for seven consecutive weeks. But the two indices did manage to scale new highs on Tuesday. For the week ended September 12, the Sensex declined 1.45 per cent to close at 4305.91 points while the Nifty lost 0.8 per cent to close at 1372.1 points.
Trading volumes were high during the week. Both BSE and NSE saw an average daily combined turnover of Rs 6,992 crore, with the combined turnover peaking to a new high of Rs 8,272 crore on Tuesday, which was the day both indices touched new highs. The breadth of the market turned negative with the advance-decline ratio remaining below 0.5 for three days last week.
FII activity remained high during the week with an inflow of Rs 995 crore, though they turned sellers on Thursday to the extent of Rs 88.3 crore. Mutual funds remained net sellers for the second consecutive week at Rs 182 crore.
Last week, both exchanges have increased surveillance due to a sharp rise in second-line companies. The BSE shifted 690 scrips to the Z group, which is the group for companies that violate the listing norms. The index of industrial production rose 5.6 per cent in July 2003, which is lower compared to a rise of 7.1 per cent in July 2002. Among other news, the Supreme Court cleared the merger of Pfizer India and Parke-Davis.
Most of the action was concentrated in pharma and heavyweights like Reliance and Infosys. The pharma sector saw a lot of action this week. Several pharma stocks touched their all-time high on Monday. The BSE Healthcare Index gained 4.54 per cent on Monday. SEBI launched investigations over the sharp rise in pharma stocks. Prices came down later in the week and the index ended up 1.4 per cent higher on Friday over previous week.
Technology stocks gained on the first two days but the BSE IT index ended 2.9 per cent lower over the week. Infosys saved the Sensex from tumbling on Tuesday as it gained 5.6 per cent, but it lost 4.35 per cent the next day and closed the week 1.3 per cent lower. Reliance gained 4 per cent on Monday but ended the week at about the same levels as previous week. The BSE FMCG Index was a big loser, down 3.07 per cent over previous week. Both HLL and ITC lost over 4 per cent each over the week. Stock prices of automobile, cement and steel stocks also declined last week.
Outlook
Markets that move in a single direction for a prolonged period of time can fall as quickly too, as we saw last week on Thursday and Friday with the 128-point fall in the Sensex. In the absence of positive triggers, the correction is likely to continue for a day or two next week, but the long-term trend remains bullish.
Ask Value Research 
New episodes every Friday 
New Process Alert 
Seems like you've uploaded a wrong QR code. Please upload the QR code downloaded from MF Central platform.
