It's getting better and better. The 30-stock BSE Sensex celebrated Christmas on December 24 itself—the index touched an all-time closing high on sustained buying by foreign institutional investors. At the end of the week, while the Sensex was up 2.39 per cent to 6498.06 points, Nifty too gained 2.51 per cent to touch an all-time closing high of 2062.70 points. Sensex went up on all days except December 22 when there was a 38-point correction.
Among the broader indices, S&P CNX 500 too closed up 2.83 per cent. Mid cap stocks continued their top performance with the CNX Mid Cap 200 gaining 3.69 per cent over the week.
Reliance stocks were one of the major beneficiaries of the stock market rally this week. Hope that the fight between the two Ambani brothers would soon be over after Mukesh Ambani decided to forgo stocks worth Rs 50 crore in the company on Friday helped Reliance Industries stocks gain 3.47 per cent to become the second highest gainer of the day. Reliance Energy too was significantly up in the morning trade of Friday but slipped 0.99 per cent at close. Over the week, while Reliance Industries gained a whopping 9.05 per cent, Reliance Energy ended up 2.47 per cent.
There was high action on the banking counter with the BSE Bankex gaining 4.69 per cent over the week. Stocks like Bank of Rajasthan and Bank of India added a whopping 42.65 and 19.92 per cent, respectively. SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank gained over 3 per cent each.
PSU stocks too rallied. The BSE PSU Index ended the week up 2.58 per cent with HPCL and Maruti Udyog Limited stocks gaining over 3 per cent each. BHEL and ONGC too gained.
Metal stocks were firm throughout the week. Sterlite Industries led from the front to gain 6.48 per cent over the week, followed by over 4 per cent return of SAIL and NALCO.
The FMCG counter seems to have slowed down. Despite a Bull run on the Dalal Street, the BSE FMCG Index could gain only 0.70 per cent. Health counter too seems to have caught a cold—the BSE Healthcare Index closed up 0.50 per cent.
Technology stocks ended the week in red, with the BSE IT Index losing 0.78 per cent over the week. Frontline software companies including Infosys Technologies and Satyam shed over 1 per cent. Wipro too was down till Thursday but recovered on Friday to end the week flat at Rs 757.
After a 3 per cent fall last week, the combined daily average turnover on both exchanges went up 4.69 per cent to Rs 7,144 crore. FIIs continued to be net buyers and pumped in Rs 871 crore in the Indian equity markets. Mutual funds too invested Rs 145 crore.
Outlook
The Indian stock market led by robust FII inflows is getting too hot to handle. Over the past few weeks, FIIs have reduced their activities substantially—as compared to over Rs 3,000 crore in the week ended December 3, they pumped in only Rs 871 crore this week. This may turn the markets a bit edgy. However, support from domestic investors and mutual funds, who have tuned out to be net buyers from the past two weeks, may still sustain the momentum.
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