Markets end the week in green

Markets end the week in green

Equities recovered from Monday’s lows following a strong showing by the heavyweights and stock-specific movements fueled by the earnings season.

Though the IT results disappointed, US Federal Reserve’s dovish comments, China stimulus expectations and positive US jobs data ensured that the markets closed in the green on a weekly basis – the second consecutive week in a row.

Experts said that the despite the IT disappointment, a strong movement in heavyweights helped the benchmark to close in the green this week. In addition, crude oil prices were not as much impacted as was feared in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The best part of the week, said independent market analyst Ambareesh Baliga, was the recovery of indices from lower levels. The indices had opened gap down on two days of the week and recovered well after that. However, the momentum is unlikely to carry on. “It cannot be a buy on correction sort of rally, it is more of a sell on rise,” he added.

Ashutosh Mishra, head of research- institutional equities at Ashika Stock Broking, expects this rally continue next week. “The key factors, which will drive Indian benchmarks should it remain buoyant next week, are the earnings, especially that of banks which are expected to be good, and the strong domestic flows. Even though foreign institutional investors remain seller, it doesn’t matter much”, Mishra said, adding that the threat of the Israel-Hamas escalation continues to weigh on crude oil prices.

The realty sector stocks were the top gainers this week led by positive quarterly sales data. BSE Realty index was up 4.13% this week, followed by BSE Auto index, which climbed 2.86%. BSE Telecommunication index rose 2.48% this week.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had agreed to look at the recalculation of adjusted gross revenue or dues, which brought some relief for the telecom operators.

BSE Power, BSE Utilities and BSE Bankex were the top laggards this week, logging in losses of 0.08%, 0.14% and 0.17%, respectively.

Nifty PSU Bank declined about 3.24% in the week ended October 13, while Nifty Bank had declined 0.16%. Nifty Private Bank index rose 0.44% this week.