Weekly markets: Sensex gains on global cues

Markets gained in the holiday-shortened week on hopes of a good monsoon. Several frontliners came out with their quarterly numbers.

Nifty ended up 60 points (1%) at 5,884. Sensex closed at 19,602 - up 215 points from last the week's close.

The Indian Met Department has predicted the southwest monsoon to be normal this year. Markets cheered the news on the hopes that a better rainfall would help to tame food inflation and boost rural income.

Food inflation reversed a three-week declining trend and rose to 8.74% during the week ended April 9. Expensive fruits, protein-based items and onions took the index higher in the week under review.

Continued high oil prices have raised concerns about higher oil subsidy bill for the government and its negative impact on the government's fiscal position. The Reserve Bank is likely to raise key rates again in its policy review in May.

India’s merchandise exports reached $246 billion, registering a growth of 37.5% while imports topped $350.3 billion, up 21.5% year-on-year during financial year 2010-11. While the recovery had been happening at a sluggish rate in developed economies, bulk of the growth came from newer markets.

Markets dropped to its owest on Tuesday as on cues from US peers. However, global cues took the markets higher on Wednesday along with hopes of a normal monsoon. Sustained buying by foreign institutional investors took the NSE benchmark to a high of 5,912 on Thursday.