Markets at a glance

Market ended the week on a positive note as fears of high inflation levels remained under check. Market breadth was positive though it was marked by high volatility.

For the week ended 16th December 2005, Sensex gained 217.5 points to close at 9284.46 and S&P CNX Nifty closed at 2810.15, a net gain of 55.5 points.

However, mid cap stocks failed to attract attention of the overall buoyant sentiment of the market. FIIs have been net buyers of Rs 3958 crore during December 2005.

The market breadth was positive with 21 out of 30 Sensex stocks ending in positive territory. The biggest push to the Sense came from ICICI Bank, HDFC and Infosys. ICICI Bank advanced 6.91 per cent to close at Rs 587.79, contributing 46.93 points to the index. HDFC (up 10.87 per cent at Rs 1231.40) and Infosys (up 3.99 per cent at Rs 2988.35) added 86.75 points to the index.

Satyam (up 7.09 per cent at Rs 720.90) and Hindalco (up 11.05 per cent at Rs 141.15) were the other major gainers. On the downside, Reliance Industries (down 1.73 per cent at Rs 848.90) took away 19.10 points from the index. Bharti Tele, Reliance Energy and Gujarat Ambuja Cements were the other prominent losers.

Most sectoral indices ended the week with gains. BSE Metal index and BSE Bankex posted the maximum gains. While the 5.88 per cent rise in the metal index was mainly driven by advances at the Hindalco and Tata Steel counter, Bankex moved up 4.58 per cent, thanks to gains in leading scrips such as ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank. BSE IT index advanced 3.59 per cent. BSE Consumer Durables index was the leading loser.

The index declined 2.2 per cent, due to losses in key stocks such as Titan Industries and Videocon International. BSE Capital Goods index and BSE Oil & Gas index were the only other losers.

US stocks closed lower on Friday as markets displayed mixed signals. According to analysts, Friday was one of the year's four 'quadruple-witching days,' as four kinds of options contracts expired on the day. Usually, such days have higher volatility and volume as investors cash in or renew their contracts.

Technology counters witnessed a slowdown due to not-so-encouraging results from the big names such as Oracle Corp. The Dow Jones industrials ended the week up 97.01 points finishing at 10,875.59, while the Nasdaq fell 4.25 points closing at 2,252.48.

Stock of the week 
 

Bajaj Hindusthan
Last week's close (Rs)	271.03
Prev. week's close (Rs)	235.13
Week's high (Rs)	295.85
Week's low (Rs)	232.43
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	93.40
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr)	11.79
Futures close	NT
Number of up/down move	3/2

Sugar major, Bajaj Hindusthan was among the big gainers last week. The stock advanced 15.27 per cent to close the week at Rs 271.03. Volumes at the counter also increased more than six fold last week.

The upsides at the counter came after the company reported a strong performance in the fourth quarter. Bajaj Hindusthan registered a 70 per cent growth in net profit for the September quarter of FY06, TO Rs 55.79 crore. Net sales for the same period increased by 34.22 per cent to Rs 295.68.

The company has commissioned three new sugar plants of 7,000 TCD each recently. These are located at Thana Bhawn and Budhana in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, and at Bilai in Bijnor. The plants commenced operations in October, 2005. Bajaj Hindusthan is the largest sugar producer of India.

What to expect this week

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Key indices registered their seventh consecutive weekly gains during the past week. Going forward, markets are expected to witness some volatility and profit booking as global fund managers head for the Christmas festival.

The market behaviour is also expected to be dictated by global market trends. The markets are looking forward to the December quarter results, scheduled to start in January second week for the next trigger.