Market ends 620 points up for the week despite Karnataka poll anxiety

Stocks: The benchmark Sensex ended the week with strong gains, rallying 620.41 points close at 35,535.79, while the broader Nifty ended at 10,806.50, garnering 188.25 points.

Bulls dominated and remained in control despite anxiety ridden trading week ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections, also inhibited by weak rupee, surging crude prices and US bond yields as well as political tensions in middle east.
 

The week saw the Global financial markets rattled by US President Trump's decision to pull-out of Iran nuclear deals resulting global crude jumping $76 per barrel on supply worries.

Regardless a brief spell of small losses due to profit-booking in Thursday session, the market reaped weeks gains on sustained fund buying by domestic institutional investors lifted by encouraging earning results. While the weak US job data and soft inflation allayed fears of faster rate hikes by the Federal Reserve boosted investor sentiment.

The key indices also witnessed remarkable stock- specifics rally in index majors like Reliance, ONGC, SBIN and Tata Steel, while shares like ICICI bank surged despite weak earnings, supported by banks statement on commitment over the bad loan problem.

The BSE Sensex started the week higher at 34,983.59 and hovered between high of 35,596.15 and low of 34,977.74 before closing the week at 35,535.79, showing a gain of 620.41 or 1.78 per cent.

(The Sensex lost 54.32 point during the previous week session)
 

The Nifty also resumed the week higher at 10,653.15 and traded between 10,812.05 and 10,635.65, the index finally closed at 10,806.50, rising 188.25 points, or 1.77 per cent.

Broader market witnessed selling pressure with both Smallcap and Midcap witnessing substantial losses. The gains were led by Oil&Gas, Banks, Metal, PSUs, FMCG, IPOs, Capital goods, IT and Auto sectors. Profit-booking witnessed in HealthCare, Power, Consumer Durables, Teck and Realty segments. 
 

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,425.26 crore during the week, as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of May 11, 2018.

The BSE Mid-Cap index fell 217.02 points or 1.31 per cent to end at 16,343.99 and the BSE Small-Cap index also fell 173.36 points or 0.96 percent to close at 17,818.09.

Among sectoral and industry indices, oils&gas rose by 3.60 percent, bankex 3.58 percent, metal 2.15 percent, PSU 1.54 percent and FMCG 1.32 percent, while Healthcare fell by 3.43 percent, Power 1.83 percent, consumer durables 1.38 percent and Teck 0.32 percent.
 

Among the 31-share Sensex pack, 21 stocks rose and remaining 10 stocks fell during the week.

ICICI Bank jumped 9.97 percent. ICICI Bank's net profit dropped 49.62 percent to Rs 1020 crore on 20.24 percent rise in total income to Rs 19,942.97 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017, was Rs 4829 crore in Q4 March 2018 as compared to Rs 4609 crore in Q4 March 2017 followed by Asian Paint by 7.98 pct, Axis Bank 6.32 pct, TataMtrDvr 4.14 pct, TataSteel 4.36 pct, ONGC 3.88 pct, SBIN 3.70 pct, Reliance 3.63 pct, Kotak Bank 2.75 pct, HindUnilever 2.61 pct, ITC 2.31 pct, M&M 1.73 pct, HDFC bank 1.38 pct, Yes Bank 1.32 pct and Larsen 1.23 pct.

While, SunPharma dipped by 9.04 pct, Dr Reddy 5.48 pct, Bajaj Auto 2.88 pct, BhartiAirtel 2.75 pct, NTPC 2.10 pct and Tata Motors 1.05 pct.
 

The total turnover during the week on BSE rose to Rs 17,376.17 crs as against last weekend's level of Rs 12,503.33 crores and NSE jumped to 1,49,193.05 crores compared to Rs 1,25,254.39 crores previously. 
 

Bullion: Gold reversed its two week down-trend owing to sharp investment offtake and increase in buying interest from stockists and jewellery buyers on the back of bullish overseas trend here during the week at the bullion market.

Gold investors largely brushed off tensions in the Middle East after the United States ditched an accord designed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and Israel attacked Iranian military infrastructure in Syria.
 

Geopolitical concerns are still a concern but investors arent paying significant attention, a dealer said.

The weaker-than-expected April consumer price data on Thursday helped to knock the dollar from 2018 highs and push US bond yields down. The dollar fell further yesterday.

That benefits gold because a weaker dollar makes bullion cheaper for users of other currencies,while lower bond yields make non-yielding gold more attractive to investors.

Elsewhere, silver also rebounded sharply to close above the significant Rs 40,000 mark, due to heavy speculative buying coupled with higher industrial demand.
 

In worldwide trade, New York Gold futures ended lower yesterday, but finished higher than a week ago as a benchmark dollar index weakened, offering some support to prices for the precious metal.

June gold fell to end at $1,320.70 an ounce. The contract settled Thursday at $1,322.30 an ouncemarking the highest finish for a most-active contract since April 27.
 

Bullion held its modest gain after a report showed a tepid rise in import prices for April, offering little immediate fodder for argument over higher inflation risks hanging over Federal Reserve interest-rate decisions.

In other metals trading, July silver fell less than penny to $16.752 an ounceabout 1.4 percent higher on the week.

In the New York Comex trade, gold for June delivery rose to settle at $1,320.70 an ounce compared to last weekend's close USD 1,314.70 and July silver contract rose to finish at $16.752 an ounce from $16.519 earlier.

On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed higher at Rs 31,165 per 10 grams from last Friday's closing level of Rs 31,010 and later rose further to Rs 31,310, before closing at Rs 31,465, revealing a gain of Rs 455 per 10 grams, or 1.47 per cent.
 

Pure gold (99.9 purity) also commenced higher at Rs 31,315 per 10 grams compared to preceding weekend level of Rs 31,160 and later moved up further to 31,460 before settling at Rs 31,615, showing a rise of Rs 455 per 10 grams, or 1.46 per cent.

Silver ready (.999 fineness) also opened higher at Rs 39,520 per kilo grams from last Friday's closing level of Rs 39,180 and later surge to Rs 39,965 before ending at 40,290, showing a smart rise of Rs 1,110 per kilo, or 2.83 percent.