Declining for the second week in a row, both the benchmark indices -- BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty -- ended with losses of over 2 per cent due to intense selling pressure.
The week saw market momentum veering on global cues and was further agonized by domestic stumbling blocks.
Lingering uncertainty over the passage of GST Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament was further squeezed by sharp sell-off across global markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meet next week amid commodity prices slide.
Markets witnessed just a day of gains straddled by seven days of oversold position amid hectic short-covering and value-buying in fundamentally strong shares.
However, the joy was short-lived as uneasiness among investors, multiplied by continued foreign fund outflows and weakening rupee against the dollar, added to selling pressure.
The Sensex resumed higher at 25,746.03 and hovered between a high of 25,785.53 and a low of 24,930.43 before finishing the week at 25,044.43, showing a fall of 593.68 points, or 2.32 per cent.
The index has lost 1,026.74 points, or 3.93 per cent, in two weeks.
The 50-share NSE Nifty also dipped by 171.45 points, or 2.20 per cent, to 7,610.45.
The gauge has lost 332.25 points, or 4.18 per cent, in two weeks.
Barring the IT sector which traded somewhat positive, rate-sensitive sectors like banks, auto and realty reeled under maximum selling pressure.
Other sectors that bore the brunt included metals, PSUs, capital goods, oil & gas, power, FMCG, healthcare and consumer durables.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) continued their
selling spree during the week as they sold a whopping net Rs 1,066.83 crore as per the Sebi data, including the provisional figure of December 11.
The BSE small-cap and mid-cap indices also fell by 2.98 per cent and 3.28 per cent, respectively. The decline in both these indices was higher than the fall in Sensex in percentage terms.
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 23 scrips declined and the rest rose during the week.
Major losers from the Sensex pack were VEDL (9.00 per cent) followed by Coal India (8.18 per cent), Dr Reddy (7.20 per cent), SBI (5.75 per cent), Tata Motors (5.49 per cent), ONGC (5.32 per cent), GAIL (4.90 per cent), ICICI Bank (4.63 per cent), Axis Bank (4.47 per cent) and ITC (4.38 per cent).
However, TCS gained by 2.45 per cent and was the biggest gainer from the Sensex pack followed by NTPC (1.45 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (0.69 per cent), Infosys (0.43 per cent), HDFC (0.32 per cent) and Tata Steel (0.29 per cent).
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Metal fell by 5.18 per cent, Realty (5.18 per cent), Auto (3.56 per cent), Bankex (3.49 per cent), Capital Goods (3.40 per cent), Oil&Gas (3.17 per cent), Power (2.80 per cent), FMCG (2.21 per cent), Consumer Durables (2.11 per cent) and Teck (0.03 per cent) while Information Technology rose (0.54 per cent).
The total turnover at BSE and NSE fell by Rs 14,350.77 cr and Rs 72,952.91 cr respectively from the previous weekend's level of to Rs 14,943.39 cr and Rs 94,797.17 cr respectively.
Forex: The rupee fell back sharply after a brief recovery
and ended at more than two-year low of 66.88 against its US counterpart on the back of heavy demand for the greenback.
Strong overseas sentiment and growing fears about the historic US interest rate hike in nearly a decade remained firmly focused on the currency market.
A massive sell-off in equities and sustained capital outflows further compounded investor nervousness amid crashing crude oil prices in the face of global demand slowdown.
The local currency has lost 19 paise, or 0.28 per cent, during the week.
The domestic unit resumed a tad weak at 66.70 per dollar as compared to last weekend's level of 66.69 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on mild demand for the American currency.
Later, it made a resounding recovery to touch a high of 66.56 following bouts of dollar selling as well as firm local equities.
However, the rupee took a dramatic turn towards fag-end and plummeted sharply to hit a fresh two-year low of 66.92 -- a level not seen since September 4, 2013 -- due to frantic demand for the greenback from state-owned banks and importers before closing the week at 66.88, showing a loss of 19 paise, or 0.28 per cent.
It had gained seven paise last week after an uninterrupted seven week downfall.
Globally, the dollar strengthened on Friday against its
main rivals after China guided its currency higher, assuaging concerns about authorities' ability to guide the world's second-largest economy through a dramatic transition.
But despite the dollar's gain from Friday's session, it finished the week flat against the yen, and lower against the euro and pound for a second straight week, bolstered by gains from Thursday's session.
The ICE US Dollar index DXY, a measure of the buck's strength against a basket of rival currencies, was up 0.2 per cent to 96.2390 on Friday. That dollar index is still down 0.8 per cent for the week after falling 1 pct on Thursday as the euro soared.
In the meantime, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in net USD 423.66 million in first four days of week as per the SEBI record.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in August turned higher at 226.5-228.5 paise from preceding weekend's level of 225-227 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in February-2017 also rose to 434.5-436.5 paise from 430-432 paise previously.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.0868 and the euro at 74.9427.
The rupee slipped against the pound to finish at 95.83 from last Friday's level of 94.89 and also fell against the euro to settle at 74.32 from 73.67.
However, the domestic unit gained further against the Japanese currency to end at 58.91 per 100 yen from 58.96 last weekend.
Oils and Oilseeds: Prices of groundnutoil, linseedoil,
refined palmolein and castorseeds gained at the wholesale oils and oilseeds market during the week under review.
Groundnutoil, though trading remained stable during the week, witnessed a fag-end spurt following heavy demand from stockists and retailers amid restricted arrivals from producing regions.
Refined palmolein hardened on persistent demand of retailers.
Castorseeds bold and castoroil commercial also saw good demand from shippers and soap industries.
Linseed oil also climbed amid rising demand from paint and allied industries.
The oils and oilseeds market was closed on 7th March (Monday), due to 'Mahashivaratri' holiday.
In the edible segment, groundnutoil commenced stable at Rs 930, later spurted at fag-end trade to close at Rs 950 from last Saturday's closing level of Rs 930, showing a rise of Rs 20 per 10 kg.
Refined palmolein opened higher at Rs 536 and surged further to finish at Rs 552 from last weekend's level of Rs 528 per 10 kg, revealing a gain of Rs 24.
Castorseeds bold opened steady at Rs 2,975, later advanced to settle at Rs 3,100 as against previous weekend's level of Rs 2,975 per 100 kg, showing a rise of Rs 125.
Similarly, castoroil commercial also resumed stable and further rose to conclude at Rs 650 per 10 kg as against its preceding level of Rs 625, showing a gain of Rs 25.
Linseed oil prices opened lower at Rs 835, later climbed to end at Rs 860 as compared to previous level of Rs 840 per 10 kg.
Bullion: Gold prices ended marginally lower in a
holiday-truncated week at the bullion market after a brief surge to multi-month highs on emergence of profit-taking amid sluggish overseas cues.
The overall sentiment remained highly volatile and witnessed roller-coaster movements throughout the trade as investors turned sceptical of the recent widespread rally.
After an abrupt climb to its highest level in more than 22 months, yellow-metal succumbed to fresh bout of selling by speculative traders and investors and retreated below the key level of Rs 29,000-mark to hover for a while.
However, precious metal saged a smart rebound towards the tail-end trade to cut short early steep losses following brisk buying jewellery stockists and retailers firmly supported by good seasonal demand.
Gold has entered a seasonally strong period and demand is expected to pick up in coming days despite intermediate corrections, a bullion trader said.
Elsewhere, silver maintained its strong upmove owing to sustained industrial offtake from industrial users despite some mid-week setback.
The bullion market was shut on Monday in view of 'Mahashivaratri'.
In worldwide trade, the shiny metal suffered a reversal after rallying to 13-month high as the ECB-inspired rally proved to short-lived and failed to lift investor sentiment.
The ECB delivered a wide-ranging set of new policies, including lowering deposit rates, intended to boost growth and return inflation to normal levels.
In New York Comex trade, gold for April delivery dropped sharply to finish at USD 1,259.40 an ounce as compared to last weekend's close of USD 1,270.70 and March silver contract also moved down to settle at USD 15.605 an ounce from USD 15.694.
On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed a tad higher at Rs 29,305 and fluctuated between a high of Rs 29,570 and a low of Rs 28,895 before concluding at Rs 29,245 from last Friday's closing value of Rs 29,300, showing a marginal fall of Rs 55 per 10 grams.
Similarly, pure gold (99.9 purity) also opened better at Rs 29,455 and swung between Rs 29,720 and Rs 29,045 before ending at Rs 29,395 against preceding weekend's level of Rs 29,450, revealing a modest loss of Rs 55 per 10 grams.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) commenced firmly higher at Rs 38,050 and hovered between Rs 38,350 and Rs 37,275 before closing at Rs 37,850, registering a solid gain of Rs 200 per kilo or 0.53 per cent.
