Sensex, Nifty up over 4%; Auto stocks shine

The Sensex gained over 4% this week on the back of good quarterly earnings, positive global cues and FIIs buying.

The index opened this week at 14,854 and surged 464 points from its previous close to hit the 15-k mark again for the first time since the Union Budget. The index touched a low of 14,787 on Wednesday as investors started worrying about India reaching its export targets for the fiscal. However, good Q1 results from Maruti, ACC and some other mid-cap companies boosted the index to its high of 15,419 on Friday.

The Sensex finally ended the week with a gain of 634 points at 15,379.

Auto stocks were in focus this week. Hero Honda soared 21% to Rs 1,736. Tata Motors surged 18% to Rs 374. Maruti Suzuki added 16% to Rs 1,185.

DLF rallied 18% to Rs 394. Jaiprakash Associates, Tata Steel, Hindalco and TCS were the other major gainers.

HDFC Bank and HDFC slipped 4% each to Rs 1,452 and Rs 2,412, respectively. BHEL also dropped 1% to Rs 2,203.

Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty opened at 4,231 and slipped to a low of 4,230 on the same day. However, the index gained on the last day of the week and touched a high 4,579. Finally the index ended at 4,569 - up 194 points (4.5%) from the last week's close.

Till Thursday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers of stocks worth Rs 1,611.5 crore whereas Mutual Funds net bought shares worth Rs 99.3 crore.