Stock indices across major bourses paused for a breather as speculators unwound some of their long positions on the last two trading days of the last week. The BSE Sensex closed at 3908.60, a gain of 60.28 points over the previous week's close. The NSE-50 closed at 1140.35, a gain of 30.75 points over the previous week's close.
The week started off on a buoyant note with side counters hogging the limelight on the first three trading days of the week. The Sensex touched an intra-week high of 3949 on Wednesday. However, the market fell sharply the following on profit taking at higher levels by speculators and FIs.
Marketmen attributed the fall to the high badla rates as a result of which players did not want to carry forward their positions. However, they added the technical correction was expected as the market was in an overbought position.
Leading brokers said they did not see much of a downside from the current levels although they did not see a sharp upside either.
Among the stocks in the limelight included Hitech Drilling, Godrej Soaps, Cheminor Drugs, Voltas and Dr Reddy's.
Key index stocks remained relatively stable as side counters continued to remain the centre of attraction.
'Pivotals had gained sharply in the past couple of months and seemed to be overheated as compared to the side counters, which were available at attractive valuations,' said a dealer at a BSE brokerage.
'Almost every good news expected by market players has come through. So far, most of the gains were on the back of speculative interest rather than any genuine buying interest. From now on, the crucial question is whether FII purchases will come in after the vote of confidence.That will determine the movement of the Sensex,' a leading BSE broker said.
The Skindia GDR Index moved in a band of 3.83 per cent during the period March 19-March 26, closing at 952.44. During the week, the 65 GDRs gained 3.24 per cent and the underlying shares gained 5.52 per cent. Dr Reddy's touched its alltime high of $14.25 while SPIC is currently trading at its 52 week high of $4.75.
New Delhi: Shares made further headway as sentiment remained bullish on the stock market last week following sustained buying by domestic financial institutions, mainly UTI and speculators followed by large-scale short-covering and notched up strong gains.
Fast changes in the political front with split in the United Front after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and two other regional parties pulled out from the front which could boost chances of ruling BJP-led coalition government's stability, also buoyed the sentiment. Election of the BJP-led coalition backed G M C Balayogi as the Lok Sabha speaker also helped market sentiment improve, market players said.
The cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 0.5 per cent in two phases by the central bank was another heartening factor, they added. FM Yashwant Sinha's statement that the country's economic reforms would be deepened, broadened and accelerated brought confidence among foreign investors.
However, rise in fiscal deficit to 6.1 per cent as against targeted 4.5 per cent in the current fiscal year in the interim budget was cause of concern for the marketmen.
Mirroring the upbeat mood, the index after opening higher at 858.60 points following sharp upsurge in index-linked multinationals, automobiles and cement company stocks, met with some resistance due to profit takers selling and dropped gradually to 839.89 points before settling at 848.90 points, showing a moderate rise of 10.14 points.
With the emerging boom-like conditions in specified group, activity in non-specified shares also started showing some activity as retail investors were seen enlarging their commitments in low to medium priced strong fundamentals company stocks. Prominent gainers of the week were cements, steels, banking, finance, software, multinationals and several public sector companies shares.
ACC stocks after opening a shade higher at Rs 1449 made a strong rally following aggressive purchases by speculators and financial position as selling pressure emerged at higher levels largely from profit takers and dropped partially to close at Rs 1470, still showing a gain of Rs 29.85.
L&T stocks also showed some signs of bullishness as foreign and domestic funds were seen accumulating stocks for the major part of the week and spurted to Rs 253 after opening steady at Rs 233 before terminating at Rs 243.25, recording a rise of Rs 10.25, nearly 5 per cent.
Calcutta: The Calcutta Stock Exchange finished a fruitful period last with share prices consolidating their recent gains and most of them finishing well above their previous week's final rates.
The turnover was substantially higher as both investors and speculators widened their holdings on the optimistic hope that the current uptrend in the market would persist in view of encouraging developments on the political front pointing to stability.
Interest was fairly broad based covering the majority of shares both in the specified and non-specified lists providing for gains in the majority as the week closed.
Higher upcountry advices especially from the BSE reinforced the sentiment inducing local operators to enter into new commitments.
Though profit-taking emerged at higher levels partly because of the settlement at NSE, this was effectively absorbed by the market which has assumed a positive mood right from the installation of the BJP-led coalition at the centre.
The market expects energetic measures by the ruling coalition to prop up the capital market as well the country's economy.
This enthusiasm coupled with reports that foreign funds had moved in the pick up fresh lots of select shares bolstered sentiment, releasing repeated bouts of buying by bull operators.
As was the case in the previous week, several hitherto sluggish counters evoked interest to put on a decisively better look.
Electricity company shares moved into the limelight on the govts programme to give priority to new projects for electricity generation.
