Dull week on Indian equities markets

It was a lacklustre week for the Indian equities markets, with a key index on Friday ending trade a marginal 1.31 per cent below its previous weekly close.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended at 9,300.86 points, a 1.31 per cent or 123.38 points decrease from last Friday's close of 9,424.24 points.

Similarly, the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) shut shop at 2,843.1 - a 1.1 percent fall from last week's close.

Broader market indices like the BSE midcap index lost 58.67 points, 1.99 per cent lower than its previous weekly close while the BSE smallcap index was down 59.81 points or 1.79 per cent.

“Market sentiment is largely unchanged, people are still not confident about which way the market will go. Such uncertainty will prevail, at least in the short-term,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, head of the capital markets arm and director of India's fourth largest share brokerage firm, the Delhi-based SMC Group.

Markets started the week on a dismal note with the Sensex losing almost half of previous week's gains and closing 3.79 percent lower on Monday at 9,066.7 points than its last close.

Following the Sensex, Nifty also shut shop at 2,766.65 points, 3.76 per cent down from its previous close of 2,874.8 points.

Tuesday saw Indian equities trying in vain to make a comeback with the Sensex managing to gain only a modest 0.91 per cent or 82.6 points to close at 9,149.3 points.

At closing, the Nifty was at 2,783.9 points, 0.62 per cent up from its Monday close of 2,766.65 points.

In a replication of Tuesday's trade, markets inched marginally up on Wednesday after slipping from the day's highs with the Sensex ending trade at 9,201.85 points, 0.57 per cent or 52.55 points higher.

Nifty closed at 2,803.05 points 0.69 per cent up on Wednesday, a 19.15 points increase from Tuesday's closing figure.

Thursday again saw key indices taking a dip. Sensex closed at 9,090.88 points, down 1.21 percent or 110.97 points, while the Nifty pulled down its shutters at 2,780.05 points, 0.82 per cent lower than its previous close.

Friday's trading provided some respite to investors with markets being in an up trend for most parts of the day.

The Sensex closed at 9,300.86 points, 2.31 per cent or 209.98 points up from its last close while the Nifty climbed 2.27 percent to 2,843.1 points.

Week's top gainers on the Sensex were Grasim (up 18.04 per cent at Rs.1, 413.35), ONGC (up 3.47 per cent at Rs 681.05) and Ranbaxy (up 3.76 per cent at Rs 223.80).

The top losers in the Sensex were DLF (down 22.04 per cent at Rs 138.15), Hindalco (down 10.09 per cent at Rs 44.10), Tata Motors (down 8.05 per cent at Rs 137.60) and HDFC (down 8.07 per cent Rs 1, 412.70).

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers this week as well, selling shares worth $40.4 million as compared to net sales of $70.3 million the week earlier.