Sensex makes marginal weekly gains

Mumbai, Sep 13 (IANS) Healthy buying by foreign investors, coupled with an overall expectation of further reforms propelled the Indian equities market to new highs in the week ended on September 12.

"In these times, when market sentiment is strong and small and midcaps are making new highs, our advice to investors would be to remain discreet and look to stay invested in quality companies with good management track record," Sanjeev Zarbade, vice president- private client group research, Kotak Securities.

The benchmark Sensex gained marginally by 0.12 percent in the week ended on September 12 from its previous weekly close on Sep 5. The index closed at 27,061.04 points, while it ended trade at 27,026.70 points on September 5.

The benchmark index moved in the negative territory for the third consecutive day from Sep 9- Sep 11 due to overall weakness in the major sectors like healthcare, metal, oil and gas, consumer durables and technology, entertainment and media (TECK), and curiosity regarding the upcoming Fed policy review.

Last week the markets had breached new psychological levels of 27,000 points in the Sensex and 8,000 points in Nifty during the week under review. The Sensex gained in five out of nine consecutive sessions.

On September 1, the 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 8,000-mark for the first time and hit a record high of 8,035 points. 

On September 2, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)breached the 27,000-mark for the first time.

The FPIs had bought shares worth $445.32 million or Rs.2,693.02 crore during the week ended Sep 12, according to data with the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

For the week ended on September 5, the FPIs had bought shares worth $739.41 million or Rs.4,475.87 crore, which helped propel the Indian equities market to subsequent new highs.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) along with sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors have been clubbed together by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)to create a new investor category called FPIs.

The FPIs had remained net buyers Friday. They bought shares worth $77.48 million, or Rs.472 crore, on Sep 12.

On Friday, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed the day’s trade at 27,061.04 points, up 65.17 points or 0.24 percent from the previous day’s close at 26,995.87 points.

The major Sensex gainers on Friday were: Cipla, up 6.38 percent at Rs.612.55; Maruti, up 1.87 percent at Rs.2,971.15; Bharti Airtel, up 1.85 percent at Rs.413.15 and ITC, up 1.40 percent at Rs.355.85.

The major Sensex losers were: Hindalco, down 2.29 percent at Rs.168.60; Sun Pharma, down 2.05 percent at Rs.805.90; Tata Power, down 1.65 percent at Rs.89.40 and NTPC, down 1.50 percent at Rs.137.95.