Stocks: Equities witnessed choppiness during the week's trade, declined marginally by 33.26 points to close at 27,803.24, while the broader Nifty finished flat, loosing a minuscule 0.20 points to 8,541.20.
Sector-specific government announcements and hope of GST passage in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament ruled the trading momentum in the midst of somewhat mixed corporate earnings numbers, while heavy FII buying failed to cheer the investors sentiment, the market went into consolidative mode on value buying amid tinge of short covering during the week.
Buying was generated due to encouraging earning season results like last weekend's bullish first quarter results of Reliance Industries and some of the key blue chips, it was supported by government's decision to pump Rs 22,915 crore into 13 PSU banks.
The market also received sector-specific boost following USFDA approval for Indian pharma companies for sale in the American market.
The IT sector saw selling pressure on poor earnings results before recovering on value buying. Banking sector saw profit-booking amid concerns over bad loans despite good earnings results.
Market player shrugged off IMF's slight drop in India's growth projections and global volatility due to geopolitical tensions and dashed hope of more stimulus following European Central Bank (ECB) monetary status quo and statement of Bank of Japan (BOJ) chief Haruhiko Kuroda's so-called 'helicopter money'.
The Sensex opened higher at 27,920.66 and hovered between a high 28,013.50 and low of 27,637.98 before closing the week at 27,803.24, showing a slight loss of 33.26 or 0.12 per cent.
The NSE 59-share Nifty ended flat by a mere loss of 0.20 points to end the week at 8,541.20 after moving between 8,587.10 and 8,476.70.
Losses were seen in Banks and Consumer Durables sector.
Buying was led by IPO, oil & gas, healthcare, realty, power, metal, IT, tech and FMCG counters.
The second line shares of mid cap and small cap company shares also witnessed good buying activity.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought
shares whopping to Rs 2,650.57 crore during the week as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of July 22.
In the broader market depicted strength. The BSE Mid-Cap index gained 152.04 points or 1.25 per cent to settle at 12,277.25. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 127.62 points or 1.06 per cent to settle at 12,107.31. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
Among the S&P, BSE sector and industry indices, oil & gas rose by 2.51 per cent, followed by healthcare 1.91 per cent, auto 1.09 per cent, realty 0.82 per cent, power 0.79 per cent, metal 0.71 per cent, IT 0.42 per cent, tech 0.11 per cent, FMCG 0.10 per cent and capital goods 0.02 per cent, respectively while bankex dropped 1.58 per cent followed by consumer durables 1.22 per cent.
In the 30-share Sensex pack, 18 stocks gained and 12 of them declined during the week.
Major gainer Coal India surged by 3.39 per cent and was the biggest gainer from the Sensex pack. It was followed by TCS 2.75 per cent, Tata Motors 2.74 per cent, Sun Pharma 2.25 per cent, Adani Ports 2.14 per cent, Asian Paints 1.98 per cent, Lupin 1.70 per cent, Powergrid 1.55 per cent and Bajaj Auto 1.55 per cent.
However, bank stocks declined with the S&P BSE Bankex index losing 1.58 per cent. Axis Bank shed 4.82 per cent. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday, July 15, notified increase in foreign investment ceiling in the bank. RBI notified that Foreign Institutional Investors(FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 74 per cent from existing 62 per cent of the paid up capital of the bank under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).
Topping the losers list along was HUL 3.91 per cent, SBI 3.48 per cent, ONGC 3.47 per cent, Wipro 3.10 per cent, Bharti Airtel 2.52 per cent and Tata Steel 2.02 per cent.
The total turnover during the week at BSE and NSE fell to Rs 15,754.27 crore and Rs 96,015.14 crore, respectively, as against last weekend's level of Rs 17,549.28 crore and Rs 99,880.60 crore.
Bullion: Gold continued its losing streak for the
second-straight weekly fall at the domestic bullion market on the back of subdued demand from jewellers as well as persistent selling by stockists.
Lack of local buying support at existing levels and unwinding of long positions by speculative traders also added downward pressure on gold.
Elsewhere, silver after its seven-week uninterrupted gaining rally, witnessed sustained selling by stockists and investors coupled with lack of demand from industrial users, largely driven by global trend and it closed below the psychologically significant Rs 47,000 mark.
In worldwide trade, gold futures settled lower, posting losses for a second week in a row, with strength in the US dollar and stock market in the wake of the latest earnings results, dulling some of the metal's investment appeal.
Bullion has benefited significantly - hitting its highest in two years earlier this month - as central banks from Europe to Japan opt to keep policy looser for longer, because that neutralises the opportunity cost of holding an asset with no interest rate.
But the dollar has gained ground recently on strong readings on the US labour market and inflation, which have boosted bets that Fed will raise US interest rates by year- end.
