Sensex, Nifty off from new peak on profit-booking, ends better

Stocks: After rallying to new peak on Monday on crude oil drop and fund inflows, profit-booking by operators in a mid-week ahead of key macro economic data on late Friday kept the Sensex and Nifty under check, still ending up by 0.13 pct and 0.23 pct respectively, extending gains for the fifth straight week.
The market commenced the week on a strong footing as overseas funds increased bets on growth optimism and a lower oil price which gave a boost to sentiments.
Later, the tussle was seen throughout the week between bulls and bears that saw the former gaining dominance over the latter, as both the key indices survived to end in green.

Hopes of further implementation of reforms by the new government kept the market from falling further.
Supreme Court Reserving order on Coal Block allocation case led to uncertainty for the market players.
Weakness in emerging markets on expectations of earlier key interest rates hike by the US Federal reserve, which might force foreign funds to shift their funds from emerging markets, also weighed on the market sentiment.

A lower crude price will help India, which imports about 80 per cent of oil needs, to contain CAD and fiscal deficit.
The end-session saw some buying by operators in blue-chip stocks and also retail investors in second-line counters, helping the sensex to land in positive terrain at close.

The sensex opened higher at 27,145.12 and surged to an intra-day record high of 27,354.99 and fell back below 27K-mark at 26,904.50, before recovering some ground to settle the week at 27,061.04, showing a small gain of 34.34 points or 0.13 per cent.