Mumbai, May 23 (IANS) The bulls are smiling again in Indian equities markets with a key index breaking several records this week, moving up by over 14 percent to register the steepest weekly gain in 17 years.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) also rose for the 11th consecutive week, staging the longest weekly rally in four years.
As trading for the week drew to a close Friday, the bellwether index stood at 13,887.15 points with a gain of 14.08 percent or 1,713.73 points over previous Friday's close of 12,173.42 points.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) did a tad better, logging a 15.4 percent increase from its last close to end at 4,238.5 points.
The Sensex hit an intra-week high of 14,930.54 points and low of 13,611, while the Nifty hit an intra-week high of 4,509 points and low of 3,673, data with the two bourses showed.
The broader market indices did a lot better, with BSE's midcap index closing 24.92 percent higher than its previous weekly close, while the BSE smallcap index was up 28.82 percent.
'Markets were clearly excited by the smooth manner in which the Congress-led coalition regained power. Investors know the allies won't be able to arm-twist the government as they had done in the past,' said SMC Capitals equity head Jagannadham Thunuguntla.
'Looking ahead, the focus will be on how the government executes its 100-day plan to lift the economy out of the current woes. There will be a very close watch on the policy front,' Thunuguntla told IANS.
Data with the markets watchdog, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), showed that foreign funds were net buyers during the week, having lapped up scrips worth $3.07 billion.
Inflow of money into stock markets from foreign funds, thus, has crossed the $3-billion mark this year, with as much as $2 billion coming in during five trading sessions since May 14.
The week started on a positive note, giving a resounding welcome to the electoral victory for the Congress-led alliance as investor frenzy forced the suspension of trading for the day after indices hit upper circuit filters twice within seconds.
If the Sensex rose an unprecedented 2,099.21 points, or 17.24 percent, the broader 50-share Nifty did even better, gaining 636.4 points, or 17.33 percent.
A day after, the markets created another record of sorts, with trading volumes touching new highs at both the bourses, although it did not result in any major gains for the benchmark indices.
Sensex, which opened at 14,757.82 points, fluctuated over a 1,000-point range Tuesday to finally end 17.82 points higher than its previous close. The 50-share Nifty, however, lost 0.11 percent at 4,318.45 points.
Wednesday saw mid- and small-sized firms outperform blue-chip scrips, while benchmark indices ended in the red. Sensex, which opened at 14,230.73 points, ended at 14,060.66 points - 241.37 points or 1.69 percent - below Tuesday's close.
The Nifty also followed the Sensex to end in the negative terrain, slipping 1.36 percent to 4,259.7 points.
Thursday saw the Sensex diving by more than 300 points as consolidation set in. The key index, which opened at 14,043.38 points, ended at 13,736.54, registering a fall of 324.12 points or 2.31 percent over Wednesday's close.
Similarly, the Nifty too slipped 1.39 percent to 4,210.95 points.
But Friday saw the Sensex end a two-day losing streak, climbing 150 points to 13,887.15 points. The Nifty, too moved up, although only marginally compared to the Sensex. It was up 27.6 points at 4,238.5.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Capital (up 52.7 percent), Reliance Infra (up 36.7 percent), Tata Steel (up 33.7 percent), SBI (up 31.9 percent) and L&T (up 31.5 percent).
The week's losers were Infosys (down 4.4 percent), Cipla (down 3.4 percent), Wipro (down 2.2 percent), Tata Consultancy (down 1.6 percent) and ITC (down 1.3 percent).
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