The Sensex closed at its highest in two months while Nifty pushed up to a two-year closing high in the holiday shortened week. Strong Q4 March advance tax numbers of companies and a drop in food prices saw the markets surge this week.
The Sensex opened the holiday-shortened week at 17,482 and slipped to a low of 17,337. It surged on the last day and touched a high of 17,683 and finally closed with a gain of 67 points (0.3%) at 17,645.
The NSE Nifty touched a high of 5,294, and settled at a fresh two-year high at 5,274 - up 11 points for the week. In the process, the markets have ended higher for the seventh straight week.
The markets also saw some volatility on Thursday as the futures & options expired on the NSE. Investors also cheered the global rating agency, S&P, revised India's outlook from 'negative' to 'stable'.
Food inflation fell to a four-month low of 16.22% due to fall in prices of cereals and onions. The inflation rate for fuel products rose to 12.68 per cent, compared to -6.06 per cent in the corresponding period last year. The prices of petrol and high-speed diesel oil rose at the rate of 16.82 per cent and 14.99 per cent, respectively, on an annual basis during the week.
The Healthcare index surged 2.5% to 5,333 as investors cheered the US healthcare reform bill. BSE bankex and FMCG indices advanced 1-2% each. However the IT index slipped 2% to 8,949.
HDFC Bank surged 7% to Rs 1,948. Sun Pharma rallied 4.3% to Rs 1,765 as the healthcare sector started running.
Hindustan Unilever gained 4% to Rs 238. ONGC, Hero Honda, Hindalco, ITC and Larsen & Toubro also advanced 1% each.
On the other hand, DLF dropped 5.6% to Rs 295. Jaiprakash Associates and Reliance Infrastructure shed 1-2% each.
Tata Motors continued correcting and dropped 4.3% to Rs 750.
ACC, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki and Grasim were the other losers in the index.
Among the other healthcare stocks, Sun Pharma Advanced Research soared 7% to Rs 89. Divis Labs and Ipca Pharma jumped around 6% each. Biocon, Aurobindo Pharma, Pfizer and Piramal Healthcare also moved up.
Hindustan Unilever, United Breweries and Marico pulled up the FMCG sector. However, NIIT, MphasiS and Wipro slipped among the IT stocks.
