Sensex mark second straight weekly gain, up 219 points

Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex tagged second straight weekly gains, rising 219.31 to close 37,556.16, the broader Nifty also garnered 82.45 points to record close of 11,360.80.

The market endured volatility due to key event of The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy review, witnessing tug-of- war between bull and bears, the contest saw key indices marking life-time highs and ample sell-offs, however, steady demand in power stocks kept the market bouyancy and bulls remaining upper-hand.

Healthier Q1 results and optimism lifted the market, investors accumulated shares of heavyweights like Reliance, HUL, Infosys rode the index to register life-time highs.

The market anticipated the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 25-bps rate hike for the second time in two months to tame inflation and to stabilize declining rupee, however the flare-up in trade tensions between US and China led ample sell-off in stocks across the sectors as the Sensex suffered biggest single-day fall in four months.

However, the US FOMC keeping the interest rates steady at the moment somewhat helped the index with certain rout, while the Met departments forecast on normal monsoon in August and September boosted the sentiment resulting market rebound.

The BSE Sensex started the week strong at 37,491.39 and climbed to life highs at 37,711.87 and low of 37,128.99, the index closed the week at 37,556.16, showing a gain of 219.31 or 0.59 per cent.

(The Sensex gained 840.48 points or 2.30 per cent in the previous week session).

The Nifty also resumed the week higher at 11,296.65 and traded between all time highs at 11,390.55 and low of 11,234.95, the index finally ended 11,360.80, a gain of 82.45 points, or 0.73 per cent.

The broader market continued its bull-run with Smallcap and midcap ending the week with ample gains.

Barring Auto sector which witnessed profit-booking, buying was led by HealthCare, PSUs, Consumer Durables,Oil and Gas, Metal, FMCG, Power, IPO, Banks, Capital Goods, Teck, Realty and IT sectors.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 75.29 crore during the week, as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of August 03, 2018.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 294.27 points or 1.85 per cent to settle at 16,206.89. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 383.32 points or 2.33 per cent to settle at 16,833.52. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Among sectoral and industry indices, healthcare rose by 4.61 per cent, PSU 3.65 per cent, consumer durables 3.60 per cent, oil and gas 2.47 per cent, metal 2.34 per cent, FMCG 2.23 per cent, power 2.08 per cent, IPO 2.07 per cent, bankex 1.09 per cent, capital goods 0.77 per cent, teck 0.77 per cent, realty 0.67 per cent and IT 0.60 per cent, while auto fell by 0.61 per cent.

Among the 31-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks rose and remaining 9 stocks fell during the week. Coal India was the top Sensex gainer last week.

The stock surged 6.32 per cent. Coal India announced the provisional production and offtake figures of the company and its subsidiaries in July 2018 during market hours on 2 August 2018.

Production increased 10.6 per cent to 40.56 million tonne in July 2018 over July 2017. Offtake rose 8.9 per cent to 48.25 million tonne in July 2018 over July 2017.

It was followed by HUL 6.04 per cent, Power Grid 5.57 per cent, Sun Pharma 5.01 per cent, SBI 4.19 per cent, reliance 4.17 per cent, Axis Bank 4.11 per cent, ICICI Bank 3.92 per cent, ONGC 3.60 per cent and Bharti Artl 3.07 per cent. While, Tata Motors DVR dipped by 4.33 per cent, HDFC Bank 3.68 per cent, HDFC 3.43 per cent, Tata Motors 3.34 per cent, L&T 1.53 per cent, Asian paints 1.53 per cent and Maruti 1.36 per cent.

The total turnover during the week on BSE rose to Rs 17,607.03 crs as against last weekend's level of Rs 16,590.72 crores and NSE fell to 1,65,955.78 crores compared to Rs 1,65,955.78 crores previously.