Sensex, Nifty surge for 2nd straight week

Stocks: Both the indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty, surged further by 496 points and 156 points, respectively, on persistent buying from investors on hopes of rate cut from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in view of above-average monsoon rains.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its daily monsoon update showed that the southwest monsoon has been further advanced into remaining parts of north Arabian Sea. For the country as a whole, the cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon season was 24 per cent above the Long Period Average (LPA) until June 24.
Short-covering in view of expiry of futures and options June contract on June 25 also boosted the market sentiment.

The benchmark BSE index marked its highest close in a month on Thursday, as mortgage lenders such as Housing Development Finance Corp rose on hopes the government's push on housing would aid income.
Indian shares edged lower on Friday as private lenders retreated after the central bank's stress tests showed a significant jump in bad loans for the sector, but indexes still posted a second consecutive week of gains.
Sensex resumed higher at 27,427.19 and hovered in a range of 27,968.75 and 27,417.03 before ending at 27,811.84, showing a gain of 495.67 points or 1.81 per cent.
Sensex has gained 1,386.54 points or 5.25 per cent in the two weeks.

The Nifty also rose by 156.15 points or 1.90 per cent to 8,381.10. It has gained 398.20 points or 4.99 per cent in two weeks.