Sensex rises 3.2% during the week

The Sensex flared up by 3.2% to a two-month high of 6707.72, extending its gains for the fourth consecutive week on the back of sustained purchases by domestic funds and fresh buying support from operators despite negative FII activity.

In the week upto May 28, the BSE benchmark 30-share index fluctuated widely between 6772.74 and 6499.21 before ending the week at 6707.72 against the last weekend's close of 6499.50, a net rise of 208.22 points.

FIs, which have been the sole driving force behind the market since the beginning of May, reported net purchases of Rs 765.06 crore in the first four trading sessions of the week, taking the total net investments by local funds to Rs 3,389 crore so far in the month.

FIIs, however, remained net sellers, with an outgo of Rs 294.40 crore in the week's first four days.

The market was bolstered by a positive statement by FM P Chidambaram on the country's economic growth and downtrend in the inflation number.

Reports that the government will hike prices of natural gas prompted a smart rally in ONGC, which ended the week up by 6.25%.

Chidambaram projected the government borrowings for 2005-06 less than the estimates, and expressed its intention to ensure that inflation is kept under control and the interest rates are benign to achieve about 7% growth.

The IT sector witnessed a smart rally on heavy buying support following an overwhelming response to the pricing of ADRs of Infosys Technologies.

Ranbaxy spurted by 12.71% over the week. Wipro, SBI, Satyam, BHEL, Dr Reddy's, Cipla, ITC, HLL, HPCL, RIL, MUL and Infosys also recorded impressive gains.

The BSE-100 index shot up further by 104.50 points to end the week at 3594.17 against the last weekend's close of 3489.67.

The BSE-200 index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply up at 883.91 and 338.15 at the weekend compared with last weekend's close of 857.40 and 328.16. The BSE-500 index advanced further by 76.11 points to close the week at 2813.65 from preceding weekend's close of 2737.54 and the Dollex-30 ended the week sharply higher at 1265.40 from 1226.69 at the last weekend.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), both the S&P CNX Nifty and the S&P CNX Defty soared by 84.00 points and 65.05 points to finish the week at 2076.40 and 1652.80 against the previous weekend's close of 1992.40 and 1587.75. The CNX Nifty Junior firmed up by 79.90 points to conclude the week at 4314.00 from 4234.10 at the previous weekend.

The volume of business on the BSE and the NSE was relatively high at Rs 10,560 crore and Rs 22,058 crore compared to last week's turnover of Rs 10,409 crore and Rs 19,821 crore, respectively.