Stocks: The Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex jumped over the psychological 17,000 mark in a brief three-session week, riding on strong liquidity situation but valuations continued to worry players.
A section of analysts expect the upbeat mood in stocks to continue for a short-term with the flow of liquidity, besides expectations of encouraging Q2 corporate earnings and sustained capital inflows into equity.
Investors are optimistic about the second quarter results taking cues from higher advance tax payments by corporates in the September quarter. The economic data also shows recovery from the slowdown last year.
Some players, however, are turning cautious due to the valuations and huge funds are being raised by companies by way of public issues and qualified institutional placements.
Hi-tech Securities Director Sanjeev Bhambri said the valuations are a bit expensive and, "I feel one should be cautious at this stage".
In the week to October 3, the BSE 30-share barometer gained 441.55 points or 2.65 per cent to end the week at more than 16-month high of 17,134.55 over its last weekend's close.
The broader 50-share Nifty of National Stock Exchange rose 124.45 points or 2.51 per cent to end above 5,000 mark at 5,083.40 from its last weekend's close.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which remained positive about India's growth, were heavy buyers in equity during last month. They bought shares worth Rs 18,344 crore in September.
In the shortened week, the trading volume on the BSE and NSE was relatively high at Rs 18,248 crore and Rs 55,385 crore respectively.
Bank and IT stocks attracted hectic buying support with their respective indices gaining 5.27 per cent and 4.48 per cent over the week.
India's largest private sector bank ICICI Bank spurted by 10.24 per cent and the country's largest public sector bank SBI gained 3.31 per cent on a likely growth of 30-35 per cent in Q2 net profits.
Among IT stocks, TCS was up 7.65 per cent, Wipro 7.02 per cent and Infosys Tech 3.58 per cent over the week on hopes of increased optimism about business outlook.
TCS signed a multi-million dollar deal with a Singapore state organisation to provide annual application management services for two years.
Bharat Heavy Electricals jumped by 4.65 per cent after India's largest power equipment maker won a Rs 270-crore contract to build a 120 megawatts power plant in Belarus.
Drugmaker Sun Pharma shot up by 6.57 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 5.07 per cent and auto major Mahindra & Mahindra by 4.92 per cent.
