Weekly wrap: Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks

Weekly wrap: Sensex, Nifty scale new peaks



Global markets had a mixed run last week (December 31 2007 - January 4, 2008). Crude oil prices hit the $100 a barrel mark. But the Indian bulls shrugged off these factors and kept lapping up scores of large, medium and smallcap stocks on expectations of good results from India Inc for the October - December 2007 quarter.

The decision of the market regulator to permit short-selling by institutional investors played a role in keeping the sentiment upbeat. FIIs and domestic mutual funds were seen making heavy purchases once again. Reports that the government was mulling a hike in fuel prices contributed to the rise in values of a few oil stocks.

The Sensex ended with gains on four of the five sessions last week. After opening the week with a modest 80 point gain on Monday, the barometer, after a good run in the positive territory, pared its gains and ended just marginally up on Tuesday.

Though it bounced back after an early setback and finished with a gain of nearly 165 points on Wednesday, the index turned south and lost around 120 points in the next session due to heavy selling information technology, cement and a few other blue chip stocks.

The final trading session of the week saw the bulls stamping their supremacy in style. Despite weakness exhibited by stocks on the US and Japanese markets, the bulls remained busy right through the session on Friday and, despite being quite selective with their purchases, sent the Sensex soaring past 20,700 to a new high of 20,762.80.

While the Sensex ended the week with a gain of 479.94 points or 2.38 per cent, the Nifty moved up by 135.70 points or 2.21 per cent to 6274.30.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE IT and BSE Teck finished lower, losing 5.12 per cent and 0.98 per cent respectively. The PSU index gained the most surging as much as 8.28 per cent over its previous week's closing mark. The Power index moved up by 7.8 per cent.
The FMCG, Realty and Oil & Gas indices advanced by 6.3 per cent, 5.85 per cent and 5.41 per cent respectively.

The Bankex gained 4.56 per cent. The Consumer Durables index rose 2.51 per cent while the Auto, Capital Goods, Healthcare and Metal indices climbed up 1.25 per cent - 2 per cent. Except IT, Auto, Capital Goods and Teck indices, the other barometers scaled new peaks last week.
Mirroring strong buying in midcap and smallcap segments, the BSE Midcap (5.62 per cent) and Smallcap (7.62 per cent) indices also moved up sharply and hit new highs last week.
Though the benchmark indices raced to new highs and recorded handsome gains, buying remained selective for a better part of the week. Among Sensex components, as many as 14 stocks ended in the negative zone.

IT majors Tata Consultancy Services (down 6.9 per cent), Wipro (down 6.2 per cent), Satyam Computer Services (down 6.1 per cent) and Infosys Technologies (down 5.6 per cent) were prominent among the losers. Concerns over a possible drop in the revenues due to a surging rupee contributed to their fall.

Ambuja Cements eased by 3.7 per cent. Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank, BHEL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Cipla, Grasim Industries and Bajaj Auto lost 1 per cent - 2 per cent. ACC and Tata Steel, the other losers, closed marginally down. Reliance Energy attracted strong enquiries ahead of the initial public offering from Reliance Power. Reliance Energy holds a 50 per cent stake in Reliance Power, which is slated to hit the market on 15 January 2007 with its IPO of 26 crore shares with a price band of Rs 405 - Rs 450 a share.

NTPC (12.6 per cent), ONGC (9.5 per cent), Tata Motors (7.3 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (7.1 per cent), ITC (6.8 per cent), HDFC (6.4 per cent), ICICI Bank (4.7 per cent), DLF (4.6 per cent) ended with handsome gains.

Reliance Communications moved up by 3.7 per cent. Hindalco surged 3.2 per cent. Heavyweight stock Reliance Industries posted a gain of 3 per cent. Ranbaxy Laboratories and Larsen & Toubro ended stronger by 2.4 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively while Bharti Airtel and State Bank of India edged up marginally.

BPCL (13.3 per cent), Reliance Petroleum (9.9 per cent), Unitech (7.9 per cent), Suzlon Energy (6.9 per cent) and Cairn India (5.7 per cent) ended the week with handsome gains. Idea Cellular, Punjab National Bank, Siemens, Nalco, GAIL India, ABB, Zee Entertainment and GlaxoSmithKline Pharma posted sharp to moderate gains while Sterlite Industries and Hero Honda closed with small gains. Sun Pharmaceuticals, HCL Technologies, VSNL and SAIL ended on a weak note.

Auto and auto components stocks Punjab Tractors, Kinetic Motors, LML, Ucal Fuel, Asahi India and Ashok Leyland closed with sharp gains last week.

Bank stocks UCO Bank (38.3 per cent), Canara Bank (28.4 per cent), Centurion Bank of Punjab (24.6 per cent), Bank of Maharashtra (18.3 per cent), Andhra Bank (18.2 per cent), Karur Vysya Bank (17.3 per cent), Allahabad Bank (15.1 per cent), ING Vysya Bank (13.9 per cent), Indian Overseas Bank (13.8 per cent), Oriental Bank of Commerce (13.5 per cent), Dena Bank (12.2 per cent), Union Bank of India (10.4 per cent) and Vijaya Bank (10.3 per cent) ended with big gains.
From the construction space, Atlanta, Gammon India, Parsvnath Developers, Hindustan Construction Company, MSK Projects, Peninsula Land, Patel Engineering, HDIL, IVRCL Infrastructure, BL Kashyap, Lok Housing, Sobha Developers and Simplex Infrastructure moved up sharply.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, RNRL, Gujarat State Petronet, Indraprastha Gas, Indian Oil Corporation, MRPL, Gujarat Gas and Essar Oil moved up. Engineers India, Atlas Copco, Finolex Cables, Alfa Laval, Voltas, Tata Honeywell, Bharat Earth Movers, National Fertilizers, FACT, SPIC, GSFC, Coromandel Fertilizers, Marico Industries, Colgate Palmolive, Archies, Dabur India, Rayban Sun Optics and Godrej Consumer Products posted strong gains.
Burnpur Cement, which made a sparkling debut on Thursday, ended the week at Rs 54.15, well off the issue price of Rs 12.

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