By Rituraj Baruah
Mumbai, May 12 (IANS) Positive global cues including easing tensions between the US and North Korea along with encouraging quarterly earnings lifted the key Indian equity indices during the week-ended Friday.
However, according to market observers, market breadth on the indices was bearish in four out of the five trading days as caution prevailed among investors ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka.
On a weekly basis, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE rose by 620.41 points or 1.78 per cent to close at 35,535.79 points.
The wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 10,806.50 points -- up 188.25 points or 1.77 per cent from its previous week's close.
"Markets ended with healthy gains this week helped by a smart surge towards the end of the week," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities told IANS.
He, however added, market breadth was negative in four out of the five trading sessions of the week.
"Sustained buying in index heavyweight stocks pushed the Sensex above the psychologically important 35,000 level. The Sensex and the Nifty, both, settled at their highest closing level in more than 14 weeks," said Rahul Sharma, Senior Research Analyst, Equity99.
"However, small and mid-cap stocks underperformed the index," Sharma further told IANS, adding: "In fact, last week indices edged higher with lower volumes with foreign investors continuing sell in cash market and buying in the derivative markets."
"Sentiment got a boost after index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Eicher Motors came out with results that beat market expectations."
According to Prateek Jain, Director of Hem Securities: "Traders welcomed continued moves between the US and North Korea to reduce tensions in the region."
US President Donald Trump would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Singapore next month.
"Mood remained upbeat despite rising crude oil and weakening Indian rupee against the US dollar," Jain added.
On the currency front, the rupee weakened by 46 paise to close at 67.33 against the dollar from its previous week's close at 66.87 per greenback.
In terms of investments, provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 2,126.74 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 4,689.44 crore during the week.
Figures from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) revealed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) divested equities worth Rs 2,678.35 crore, or $399.75 million, in the week ended May 11.
The top weekly Sensex gainers were: ICICI Bank (up 9.97 per cent at Rs 311.10); Asian Paints (up 7.98 per cent at Rs 1,289.60); Axis Bank (up 6.32 per cent at Rs 553.20); Tata Steel (up 4.36 per cent at Rs 606.65); and Tata Motors (DVR) (up 4.14 per cent at Rs 194.90).
The major losers were: Sun Pharma (down 9.04 per cent at Rs 471.85); Dr Reddy's Lab (down 5.46 per cent at Rs 1,990.85); Bharti Airtel (down 2.75 per cent at Rs 385.70); Bajaj Auto (down 2.56 per cent at Rs 2,816.45); and NTPC (down 2.05 per cent at Rs 167.55 per share).
(Rituraj Baruah can be contacted at rituraj.b@ians.in)
