Weekly review: Sensex rallies 5%

Moving in tandem with the global markets and expecting early revival in the economy, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recovered sharply by 5.17 per cent during the truncated week under review.

The market was closed on March 10 and 11 on the occasions of Id-E-Milad and Holi.

On the first day of the week, bearish global trends weighed on the local bourses and the Sensex fell by 165 points registering its 40-month closing low of 8,160.40 on all-round selling by foreign funds and operators.

However, a smart rally in world markets, fall in the inflation and rise in auto sales helped the key index to notch up handsome gains on the last two trading days.

Fresh buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on the concluding day of the week led the 30-share index to register its biggest gain in the current calendar year.

The BSE barometer moved in a range of 8,793.21 and 8,110.10 before ending the week at 8,756.61 points, a smart rise of 430.79 points over the last weekend's close.

In the preceding week, the Sensex had plunged by 566 points, or 6.36 per cent.

The broader 50-issue Nifty of National Stock Exchange also recouped by 99.10 points, or 3.78 per cent, to settle at 2,719.25 against 2,620.15 of last weekend.

Inflation fell to 2.43 per cent, the lowest in over six years, as prices of food items like pulses, dairy products and edible oil softened in the last week of February.

Market participants expected another rate cut by the apex bank after the fall in inflation.

Industrial output, however, showed negative growth for the second month in a row, the decline being 0.5 per cent in January, which was said to be the cause of concern.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), after sustained sell-off for last several days, picked up shares worth Rs 299.23 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors spurted by 16.68 per cent, ICICI Bank by 14.63 per cent, Sterlite Ind by 13.18 per cent, HDFC by 12.81 per cent, Maruti Suzuki by 9.74 per cent, RIL by 9.55 per cent and M&M by 8.80 per cent.

Besides BSE-CD, all other sectorial indices ended in the green with a gains between 0.75 per cent and 7.24 per cent. The BSE-metal index led the pack followed by BSE-Auto, BSE-Oil&Gas and Bankex.

On the NSE, the S&P CNX Defty rose by 66.65 points, or 3.79 per cent, to 1,825.20 from last weekend's close of 1,758.55. The CNX Nifty Junior also firmed up by 113.60 points, or 3.08 per cent, to 3,802.40 from 3,688.80 last weekend. MORE PTI VMP RSU