Key Indian equity indices log second week of gains

Mumbai, March 12  Key Indian equity market indices ended in the green for the second week in a row on Friday, due to inflows from foreign funds, but not before some volatile trading sessions led by global cues and profit-taking.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had closed at 24,646.48 in the week before, ended on the latest Friday at 24,717.99, to log a gain of 71.51 points, or 0.29 percent. In two weeks, the index has gained 6.75 percent.

The broader, 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also rose 24.85 points or 0.33 percent during the week to cross the 7,500-mark at 7,510.20. It gained by 480.45 points, or 6.83 percent during the past two weeks.

"With key bills connected to gas, real estate and mining sectors being passed in parliament, the investors are increasingly becoming assured that the government is back on the reform path," said Anand James, co-head of technical research with Geojit BNP Paribas.

"But the cautiousness that prevailed through was however not unexpected, given the slew of event risks lined up for the next week including India’s inflation figures as well as US Fed meeting," James said.

The industrial output numbers, which showed that India's factory output had logged a decline in January for the third straight month, came after the trading hours of Friday. The impact is likely to be felt next week.

During the week, most of the global indices also ended in red, including Germany's Dax 100, the London FTSE 100, Shanghai Composite and Nasdaq. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng stood ground to end in the positive territory.

The main movers of the market were foreign funds. In each of the four trading days of the week -- Monday being a holiday on account of Maha Shivratri -- they emerged net buyers in the equities segment, accounting for total purchases worth $554.76 million.

Within the 19 sector-specific indices, the top gainer was that for the auto sector, up 1.55 percent, followed by healthcare and realty, which was specifically buoyed by the passage of the real estate bill. The IT, banking and tech indices, however, fell the most.

Among individual stocks that go into the Sensex basket, Lupin was the top gainer, up 4.35 percent at Rs.1,857.55, followed by Asian Paints, up 3.35 percent at Rs.896.15, Tata Motors, up 3.04 percent at Rs.354.00, HDFC, up 2.68 percent at Rs.1,158.75 and Airtel, up 2.35 percent at Rs.337.85.

Coal India was the top loser, down 0.98 percent at Rs.319.05, ICICI Bank, down 0.77 percent at Rs.213.80, BHEL, down 0.67 percent at Rs.103.65, Tata Steel, down 0.57 percent at Rs.294.45 and NTPC, down 0.51 percent at Rs.126.30.