There were events galore during the week ended February 29, 2008. First, it was the Railway Budget on Tuesday (February 26) for Year 2008 - 2009. The Economic Survey for fiscal 2008 was tabled on Thursday followed by the Union Budget for 2008 - 2009 on Friday, the final session of the week. The derivatives expiry was the other major event during the week under review.
All these had their fair share of contribution to the market's expectations and volatility. Auto, capital goods, metal, oil, power and pharma stocks saw some hectic buying during the week. Reduction in customs duty for two, three and four wheelers saw automobile stocks bucking the weak trend on the Budget day. Pharma stocks also had a fairly good run in the positive zone on Friday afternoon.
Realty stocks had their moments in the positive zone during the week but failed to garner sustained support. Information technology stocks were hampered by the rupee's progress and also due to lack of any significantly positive measures for the sector from the budget. FIIs and domestic mutual funds remained net buyers for the major part of the week.
While the 30 share BSE sensitive index ended the week with a gain of 229.65 points or 1.32% at 17,578.72, the broader 50 stock Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange settled with a gain of 112.75 points or 2.2% at 5223.50.
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Healthcare finished with a handsome gain of 4.91%. BSE Auto advanced by 3.81%. The Oil & Gas and PSU indices moved up by 3.37% and 3.35% respectively. BSE Metal (2.26%), Power (2.7%) and CG (2.96%) closed with strong gains and the FMCG index also ran up smartly to end 1.94% up.
The Bankex eased marginally by 0.36%. The Realty index ended lower by nearly a per cent. The IT and Teck indices slipped by 1.42% and 1.54% respectively while the Consumer Durables barometer, which suffered the most, dropped down by 3.9%.
Notwithstanding some sharp losses posted on a couple of sessions, midcap and smallcap stocks saw a fair amount of buying during the week. While the Midcap index surged 1.13%, the Smallcap edged up by 0.34%.
The Sensex notched up a gain of over 300 points on Monday thanks to a firm global trend. Expectations of market friendly measure from the Budget and short-covering ahead of expiry of February series derivatives contracts also contributed to the rise in stock prices. The 3:5 bonus announcement from Reliance Power played a stellar role as well in buoying up the sentiment.
The Railway Budget's thrust on infrastructure development and low freight rates kept the sentiment buoyant on Tuesday and the BSE barometer recorded a gain of around 155 points. The Nifty added nearly 70 points to its Monday's tally of around 90 points.
Heavy selling during the final hour of trade resulted in the Sensex ending flat on Wednesday. Information technology stocks were among the ones that dragged the market down from higher levels. It was another flat close for the barometer on Thursday as participants chose to tread a cautious path ahead of the budget. Slower economic growth and rising inflation had an impact on the market that day.
Proposals to increase spending on agriculture and education, the reduction in customs duty on specified drugs and project imports, cut in excise duty on automobiles, increased allocation for Bharat Nirman Programmes, subsidies on Fertilizers and waiving off of outstanding loans of the farmers were some of the positives to emerge from the Union Budget 2008-2009 that was tabled on Friday.
But the proposal to hike short-term capital gains tax to 15% stumped market participants and sent stock prices into a tailspin in afternoon trade. Weak global markets also dampened the mood to a marked extent. Though the market staged a fairly strong recovery later on, the Sensex still ended the session with a big loss of 246 points on Friday.
Maruti Suzuki (up 13.1% to Rs 867.20) was the biggest gainer from the Sensex last week. BHEL moved up by 10.8% to Rs 2282. Mahindra & Mahindra rallied 10.2% to Rs 692.80. HDFC and Ranbaxy Laboratories notched up 8.9% and 8.7% respectively.
Hindalco, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, Grasim Industries, Ambuja Cements, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro and ACC gained 2% - 6%. NTPC, ONGC, Reliance Industries and ITC finished with modest gains while Tata Motors and Reliance Energy edged up marginally.
Realty stock DLF eased by 5.8%. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications, the telecom majors, lost 2.9% and 1.3% respectively. Among IT stocks, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies lost 2.6% and 2.1% respectively while Satyam Computer Services eased by a little over a per cent.
Banking sector heavyweights HDFC Bank (down 1.5%), ICICI Bank (down 0.8%) and State Bank of India (down marginally) closed lower. Bajaj Auto and Tata Steel ended with small losses.
Nifty stocks GlaxoSmithKline Pharma (16.5%), Nalco (11.5%), Sun Pharmaceuticals (11.1%), Cairn India (10.8%), Reliance Petroleum (9.7%), BPCL (9.5%), GAIL India (8.8%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (8.1%), SAIL (6.6%), Hero Honda (5.7%) and Tata Communications (5.7%) ended on a strong note. Sterlite Industries, Punjab National Bank and Tata Power also moved up sharply.
HCL Technologies and Idea Cellular finished with modest gains. Siemens, Suzlon Energy, ABB, Unitech and Zee Entertainment closed lower.
No comments:
Post a Comment