Equity markets succumbed to profit booking in the second half of the week ended March 11, 2005 just after crossing the historic highs on Monday and Tuesday. After reaching the 6900-mark on Monday and rising to even higher level of 6955 points on Wednesday, the 30-stock BSE Sensex took a breather from that point, which saw smart profit booking across most of the sectors. Overall, there was nominal gain of 0.06 per cent on the Sensex, while the NSE Nifty was better off by 0.27 per cent at the close of the week.
The broader mid-cap indices signed off the week on a positive note. The S&P CNX 500 was marginally higher as it gained 0.48 per cent during the week. The CNX Mid Cap 200 was up by 1.55 per cent.
It was a good week for all the sector-specific indices except the BSE FMCG Index, which declined by 2.57 per cent. FMGC major HLL ended in red during the week. It was an exceptionally good week for the banks at large as the BSE Bankex grew by 3.07 per cent. Bank of India was up by a massive 17.6 per cent, Indian Overseas Bank rose by 12 per cent, Bank of Baroda gained 9.4 per cent while the HDFC Bank scrip was up 4 per cent.
The BSE IT Index ended on a flat note and among the others, the BSE Metal Index was up 1.85 per cent, while the BSE PSU was higher by 1.35 per cent, and the BSE Health Care Index was healthier by 2.27 per cent. Ranbaxy rose by 4.6 per cent and Cipla was up by 3.7 per cent
On the IPO front, Punjab National Bank's public offer of 80 million shares was oversubscribed almost 12 times.
Foreign institutional investors were very active and invested a huge sum of Rs 3617.5 crore during the week. Even mutual funds were net buyers for the week ended March 11, 2005.
Outlook
The post-Budget rally does not seem to die down and the market is gearing up for the magical 7000-mark with some profit-booking on every jump. The next week is expected to show a mixed trend across most of sectors. FIIs have also shown increased confidence in the Indian markets, which is expected to continue in the near future. Overall, a positive sentiment is likely to prevail.
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