It was another week of new milestones for stock markets. After stopping in the previous week for a breather, markets went in new territories last week. The BSE Sensex advanced 1.81 per cent to close the week at 6346.48 points while the S&P CNX Nifty gained 2.19 per cent to 2012.1 points. The magic mid-cap stocks does not cease. The S&P CNX 500 gained 2.65 per cent while the CNX Mid Cap 200 shot up by 3.71 per cent.
The market went up on all the days except for Friday when there was a 73-point correction. Among sectoral indices, the BSE Healthcare Index gained 4.61 per cent. Most companies in the sector went up. There were also some announcements by pharma companies. Nicholas Piramal acquired the inhalation anaesthetic business of Rhodia Organique Fine, UK for $14 million. Ranbaxy inked a deal with Teva to manufacture and supply quinapril, an anti-hypertensive drug.
There was also a lot of action in PSUs, especially oil PSUs. Indian Oil Corporation announced plans to invest $1 billion to develop an oil field in Iran. There was also news that the crossholding in PSU oil companies would end. The first step in the direction is IOC exploring to sell its stake in ONGC back to the company under a buyback or to offload it in domestic and US markets. The BSE PSU Index went up by 2.79 per cent and ONGC gained 2.84 per cent.
The BSE IT Index also rose 2.77 per cent and there was a decent amount of interest in tech stocks. The BSE FMCG gained 0.6 per cent as ITC declined. Though the BSE Bankex stayed at the same levels as previous week, old private sector banks came in the limelight. This was due to ING Vysya and Karnataka Bank announcing favourable rights issues for investors.
National Thermal Power Corporation became the second largest company in terms of market capitalisation on Indian bourses. The combined daily average turnover on both exchanges fell marginally by 3 per cent to Rs 6,823 crore. FIIs poured in Rs 1,464 crore in Indian equity markets. Mutual funds turned net buyers after a long time, investing Rs 119.73 crore.
Outlook
With Christmas around the corner, the activity in the market is likely and foreign institutional investors are likely to go on vacation. Most indices are at their all-time highs and the uptrend is likely to continue. Stocks are likely to remain range-bound though there could be some stock-specific activity.
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