It was another listless week of trade, except for the fact that the Sensex regained the psychological mark of 18k. The BSE benchmark ended at 18,221, higher by 223 points or 1.2%, compared to its previous week's close of 17,998. The Nifty was not so lucky, as it struggled around the 5500 mark before ending at 5479, up 71 points. The 5500 mark is posing a tough resistance from the technical point of view and the prevalence of call writing at that level. Continuing with their relative outperformance, the mid-cap index ended at 7859, stronger by 224 points or 2.9% and the small-cap index ended at 9912, up 271 points or 2.8%.
The markets were very predictable in their monotony, what with four quite sessions to begin and end the week. But it was the interlude on Wednesday, when the Sensex toed the global line to add more than 200 points to its tally, which helped the BSE benchmark to end comfortably above the 18k mark. We are looking at a protracted week of trade, going ahead, as the markets would be shut on Friday on account of Ramzan. And the Labor Day holiday on Wall Street on Monday leaves us with limited global triggers at the dawn of the week.
Meanwhile, the economy grew by 8.8% during the quarter ended June on the back of impressive growth in manufacturing output. Manufacturing expanded by strong 12.4% in the April-June quarter as against a mere 3.8% growth in the same period last year. And construction grew from 4.6% to 7.5% during the same period. But the government revised the demand component of its April-June GDP growth data, nearly tripling the initially estimated growth on the demand side from 3.7% to 10% following a rise in private consumption, government expenses and investments.
And food and fuel inflation accelerated in the third week of August, maintaining pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to tighten monetary policy. The food price index, which has a weightage of over 15% in the wholesale price index, rose by an annual 10.86% in the week to August 21, more than its 10.05% rise in the previous week. The fuel price index rose from 12.57% to 12.71% and the primary articles index rose from 14.75% to 15.19% during the period.
The FMCG index was the leading sectoral gainer for the week, adding as much as 3% at 3456. This was closely followed by the auto and metal indices, which added 2.9% each at 15346 and 8970 respectively. In the FMCG space, United Spirits zoomed by 10% at Rs 1518, while McLeod Russel, Ruchisoya and Godrej Constructions gained 5-6% each. And among the heavyweights, HUL strengthened by 3.2% at Rs 272 and ITC jumped by 1.8% at Rs 164.
In the metals space, Tata Steel brightened by 5.8% at Rs 539, JSW Steel raced ahead by 4.4% at Rs 1162 and Sail adedd 3.4% at Rs 191.
And the auto space saw the likes of Maruti gaining 4.4% at Rs 1272, M&M adding 3.3% at Rs 630, Bajaj Auto adding 3.3% at Rs 2871 and Tata Motors adding 2.2% at Rs 1012 on upbeat sales numbers for the month of August.
In the midcap space, United Breweries soared by 3% at Rs 459, United Breweries Holdings zoomed by 20% at Rs 326, Nirma gained 14% at Rs 229 and KEC International added 14% at Rs 524. Apollo Tyres, MRF and BEML added in the region of 12% each.
In the smallcap space, EIH Associates jumped by a whopping 62% at Rs 230, Shristi Info gained 42% at Rs 428 and Vindhya Telecom added 41% at Rs 344. Venky's, Premier and Force Motors added in the region of 20% each.
On the index front, Bharti came back in the reckoning after being in a state of stupor for a couple of months on reports of commencement of 3G spectrum allocation. The private telecom major ended the week at Rs 339, stronger by 7.3%, on the BSE. Tata Steel ended at Rs 539, higher by 5.8% after the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Thailand's Sahaviriya Steel Industries, setting the scope of a possible deal for the sale of its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) facility for around $500 million. And Reliance Infra ended at Rs 1030, up 4.9%. Maruti, ICICI Bank and sterlite were the other significant gainers.
On the other hand, Bhel weakened by 3.1% at Rs 2392 to top the loser's list on the BSE. Hero Honda shed 2.7% at Rs 1736 and RIL lost 2.5% at Rs 925 . The company's entry into the hospitality sector only worsened the weak technical sentiment surrounding the heavyweight counter. The Mukesh Ambani-led company had earlier joined hands with the Oberoi group promoters to thwart a possible takeover of EIH by rival hospitality player ITC, by buying a 14.12% stake in the Oberoi hotel brand for Rs 1,021 crore. TCS, SBI and Jindal Steel shaved off between 1% and 2% each.
