Stocks: The BSE benchmark Sensex ended the week with sharp gains to regain the psychological 28K-level to garner 749.86 points, while the broader Nifty reclaimed the key 8,800-level.
Despite market witnessed volatility loomed by the uncertainty over US Federal Reserve rate hike timing, dismal domestic GDP data and also plunge in telecom stocks following launching of Reliance Jio with free voice calls and cheaper data tariffs.
The bulls mobilized and finally managed to dominate the sentiment lifted by the report of Reserve Bank of India stating country's brighter growth outlook with economy likely to expand 7.6 per cent this year due to better monsoon and also good money on implementation of 7th pay commission by the government.
The market gained further strength on value-buying spree in recently hammered shares, sharp jump in Auto sales figures led a rally in Auto stocks also FIIs come-back into Indian equities ruling the trading momentum.
For the week, the Sensex opened higher 27,827.26 and hovered between a high of 28,581.58 and a low of 27,698.71 before ending at 28,532.11, showing a robust gain of 749.86 points, or 2.70 per cent. The market had lost 370.15 points during previous two weeks.
While, the Nifty also surged by 237.10 points, or 2.77 per cent to 8,809.65 after moving between a high of 8,824.10 and a low of 8,543.75. It had lost nearly 100 points in previous two weeks.
Buying was led by auto, bankex, capital goods, FMCG, consumer durables, PSUs, healthcare, oil&gas, power, metal and IT sectors substantially supported by midcap and smallcap company shares and debuting new IPOs, while, realty and tech counters witnessed profit-booking.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign
institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,971.55 crore during the week, as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of December 2.
In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index rose by 16.16 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 12,199.18 and the BSE small-cap index gained 55.50 points or 0.46 per cent to settle at 12,083.20 outperforming the Sensex.
Among sectoral and industry indices, IT fell 1.75 per cent followed by banking (1.47 per cent), metal (1.38 per cent), Teck (0.83 per cent), consumer durables (0.67 per cent), IPO (0.59 per cent), oil&gas (0.22 per cent), PSU (0.21 per cent) and Realty (0.21 per cent).
However, Auto rose by (1.14 per cent), power (0.63 per cent), consumer goods (0.36 per cent) and fmcg (0.18 pct).
Among the 30-share Sensex pack, 16 stocks fell, 13 stocks rose, while 1 remained unchanged.
Major lossers from the Sensex pack were, Tata Motors (4.46 pct), AsianPaint (4.19 pct), TCS (3.34 pct), M&M (3.10 pct), SBIN (2.51 pct), Axis Bank (2.45 pct), Powergrid (1.97 pct), Infosys (1.35 pct), Lupin (1.36 pct), HDFC (1.23 pct), Wipro (1.03 pct) and Larsen (0.69 pct).
While, BhartiAirtel rose by (5.95 pct), HeroMotoco (4.36 pct), ONGC (4.67 pct), Maruti (4.00 pct), GAIL (3.47 pct), BajajAuto (3.43 pct), Cipla (1.43 pct), SunPharma (1.03 pct), Coal India (0.66 pct) and Adaniports (0.41 pct).
The total turnover during the week on BSE rose to Rs 13,981.54 crore from last weekend's level of Rs 12,443.90 crore while NSE gained to Rs 1,02,280.80 crore from Rs 99,009.43 crore.
Bullion: Precious gold continued its downhill journey,
marking its fourth straight weekly loss loomed subdued investors offtake bridled by bearish global trend as well as lower demand due to consumer cash crunch post demonetisation.
After a weak start in line with global trend, the yellow-metal plunged below the key psychological Rs 29,000 mark on heavy losses.
Bullion traders said the volume of business has dropped sharply in view of prevailing cash crunch in the market following the government banning 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to flush out black money.
Standard gold shed a whopping 7.62 per cent in its fourth week downslide, or Rs 2,280.00 per 10 grams.
Elsewhere, silver also remained under selling pressure for the third week, to hit over six-month low by breaching Rs 41,000 mark on speculative sell-off and lack of industrial buying support.
In worldwide trade, gold futures settled higher yesterday, paring their loss for the week as the US dollar and treasury yields eased back in the wake of the monthly jobs report.
The US employers boosted hiring in November, pushing down the unemployment rate to a more than nine-year low of 4.6 per cent and increasing the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month.
Bullion is highly sensitive to rising interest rates, which makes the non-yielding asset less attractive while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.
February gold rose USD 8.40, or 0.7 per cent, to settle at USD 1,177.80 an ounce. While, November's tumble was the worst one-month percentage loss since June 2013. For the week, prices lost less than 0.1 per cent from the settlement of the most-active December contract a week ago. The February contract was down near 0.3 per cent for the week.
However, March silver rose 32.6 cents, or 2 per cent, at USD 16.832 an ounce. It was up about 2.3 per cent from the most-active contract a week ago.
In the New York Comex trade, gold for delivery in February
tanked to USD 1,177 80 ounce as compared to last Friday's December close of USD 1,179 while, silver for March rose to USD 16.832 an ounce from December USD 16.465.
On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed higher at Rs 29,035 per 10 grams from last Friday's closing level of Rs 28,855, it hovered between Rs 29,035 and Rs 28,345 before concluding at Rs 28,380, revealing a loss of Rs 475, or 1.64 per cent.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also commenced higher at Rs 29,185 per 10 grams as compared to preceding weekend's level of Rs 29,005, it traded between Rs 29,185 and Rs 28,495 before ending at Rs 28,530, showing a loss of Rs 475, or 1.64 pct.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) opened higher at Rs 42,000 per kilogram from last Friday's closing level of Rs 41,265, it moved between Rs 42,030 and Rs 40,710 before finishing at Rs 40,790, registering a fall of Rs 475, or 1.15 per cent.
Oils and Oilseeds: Edible oils displayed a mix trend,
while non-edible oils slipped at the Vashi oils and oilseeds wholesale market during the week under review.
Refined palmolein prices firmed up further on the back of sustained buying from retailers.
Groundnut oil dropped further following lower demand from stockists and retailers amid ample supply position.
Castorseeds bold and castoroil commercial declined owing to poor offtake from soap and shippers industries.
Linseed oil maintained a steady trend in absence of any worthwhile buying.
Turning to edible oils segment, refined palmolein resumed higher at Rs 590 and rallied further to finish at Rs 602 as compared to last Saturday's close of Rs 585, revealing a smart rise of Rs 17 per 10 kg.
While, groundnut oil opened higher at Rs 1,020, but later turned weak to end at Rs 980 from previous close of Rs 1,000, showing a loss of Rs 20 per 10 kg.
Turning to non-edible section, castorseeds bold commenced firmly higher at Rs 3,975, but later finished low at Rs 3,925 from preceding weekend's level of Rs 3,950, showing a loss of Rs 25 per 100 kg.
Castoroil commercial also resumed higher at Rs 825 and later finished lower at Rs 815 from last weekend's level of Rs 820, showing a marginal loss of Rs 5 per 10 kg.
Linseed oil held steady at previous weekend's level of Rs 1,050 per 10 kg.
Forex: The Indian rupee made a resounding comeback after
crumbling to hit a fresh 2016-low against the resurgent US dollar as sentiment got a marked change on growing evidence that the Reserve Bank will lower its key rates in next week's policy review.
Breaking an uninterrupted three-week drubbing, the battered rupee rebounded soundly to end at 68.20 - the highest level in more than a week amid a powerful bullish backdrop.
Heavy unwinding of long dollar positions by banks and exporters alongside extended RBI intervention in the forex market predominantly helped the recovery momentum.
Additionally, better-than-expected GDP data which accelerated to 7.3 per cent in the September quarter also aided the sentiment.
The home currency suffered yet another big blow at the beginning of the trade and plunged sharply to hit a fresh 2016-low of 68.80 before staging a spectacular turnaround.
It was a week of wild currency swings in the midst of heavy capital outflows alongside looming Fed rate-hike fears even as crude prices jumped after the historic OPEC deal raised inflation expectations higher.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local unit resumed modestly higher at 68.42 from last Friday's closing value of 68.46.
But it later succumbed to nervousness on surging dollar and massive FII selling pressure, hitting a fresh low of 68.8000.
However, the home currency staged a smart rebound for consecutively four days from Tuesday through Friday to hit a high of 68.19 before concluding at 68.20 with a sound gain of 26 paise, or 0.38 per cent.
It has depreciated by a whopping 176 paise, or 2.64 per cent in last three-week of downfall.
The fact worth noticing is that the FIIs have been relentless sellers in the Indian Equity markets with a total outflow of worth USD 405.21 million for the week.
Meanwhile, greenback ended lower with a discernible lack of direction.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, fell 0.27 per cent to end at 100.75 from 101.48 a week earlier.
In the meantime, global rating agency Fitch lowered its growth forecasts for India for the current fiscal to 6.9 per cent from 7.4 per cent and lowered its 2017-18 projection to 7.7 per cent from 8 per cent, citing the impact of demonetisation drive of high-value currency on Asia's third largest economy.
RBI fixed the reference rate for the USD at Rs 68.3689 and Euro at Rs 73.0385 against preceding week's level of Rs 68.4626 and Rs 72.3855, respectively.
In cross-currency trades, rupee remained under immense pressure against the pound sterling and finished at 86.10 as compared to last weekend's level of 85.28 and also weakened further against the euro to settle at 72.56 from 72.53 previously.
The local currency, however, continued to gain ground against the Japanese yen and ended firmly higher at 59.88 from 60.66 per 100 yens earlier.
In the forward market, the benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in April recovered to 109-111 paise from 99-103 paise and the far-forward contracts maturing in October 2017 also recouped to 257-259 paise from 248-252 paise.
The new spot/May settled at 128-130 paise and the far-forward contracts for spot/Nov 2017 ended at 271-274 paise.
On the global front, the greenback retreated from its multi-year peak on profit-taking, as participants digested the latest US jobs report and looked ahead to Italy's weekend constitutional referendum.
The overnight data, which showed the US economy added 1,78,000 jobs in November with the unemployment rate falling to 4.6 per cent, its lowest level since August 2007, growing evidence that the world's largest industrialised economy is emerging from the long shadow of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Sterling continues to strengthen on hopes that the UK government is prepared to pay for access to EU markets, thereby softening Brexit woes.
Global commodity trade, crude prices shot up to more than 15 per cent over the week - highest level since July 15 following OPEC's deal on Wednesday to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut which gave a hefty boost to oil prices.
The international crude benchmark rose further 1 per cent on Friday to settle at USD 54.46.
