Markets at a glance

Bombay High court's approval of the demerger of the Reliance Industries led the Sensex to end the week at its all time high level of 9067.28, a gain of 105.67 points. Nifty also gained 58.5 points to touch its peak level of 2756.45.

However, markets witnessed frequent volatility while there was renewed buying interest in small cap and mid cap counters. FIIs and domestic mutual funds were also net sellers on four trading sessions. Depreciation of rupee was one of the prime concerns for the outflow of FIIs.

The market breadth was positive during the week. Out of the 30 Sensex stocks, 18 ended up in positive territory. ONGC provided the biggest push to the index, contributing 31.71 points. The stock advanced 8.93 per cent to close at Rs 1127.20. TCS (up 8.90 per cent at Rs 11686.25), Reliance Energy (up 6.01 per cent at Rs 656.05) and Bajaj Auto (up 4.99 per cent at Rs 2082.25) were the other big gainers.

Stock of the week

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DSP Merrill Lynch
Last week's close (Rs) 1,978.80
Prev. week's close (Rs) 1,625.05
Week's high (Rs) 2,170.00
Week's low (Rs) 1,630.00
Last week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 1.12
Prev. week's ave. daily turnover (Rs cr) 0.20
Futures close NT
Number of up/down move 4/1

The stock was among the big movers of last week. The stock gained 21.77 per cent last week to close at Rs 1978.80. The upsides at the counter followed Merrill Lynch's decision to acquire 47.72 per cent of the total equity capital of DSP Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Lynch Holdings (Mauritius) entered into a share purchase agreement with Hemendra Kothari and his affiliates at DSP Merrill Lynch to acquire 1,07,38,800 equity shares. Merrill Lynch Holdings (Mauritius) earlier held 90,00,000 equity shares amounting to 40 per cent of the equity capital of DSP Merrill Lynch.

DSP Merill Lynch offers a complete range of advisory, finance and securities research activities to the private and public sectors. The company has a has a major presence in capital market related services like structuring fixed income, equity offerings, hybrid financing, securitised financing, merchant banking, etc.

The gains in these counters added 38.51 points to the index. On the downside, HDFC was the biggest drag on the index. The scrip declined 3 per cent to end at Rs 1110.70. The decline at the counter took away 12.36 points from the index. Grasim, L&T and Ranbaxy were the other big losers.

Sectoral index performances reflected the overall positive mood with most of them ending up in positive territory. BSE Consumer Durables index outperformed others by a mile, advancing 11.51 per cent for the week.

A 20 per cent rise in Titan Industries counter, which has the highest weightage in the index was the main reason for the upsides.

BSE Auto index (up 3.07 per cent), BSE IT index (up 2.30 per cent) and BSE OIL & Gas index (up 2.34 per cent) were the other main gainers. The only indices to post losses were BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.27 per cent) and BSE Bankex (down 0.16 per cent).

Major US indices ended the week with losses, though a drop in energy prices lifted the gloom somewhat on Friday. The Dow Jones industrials ended the week down 98.93 points, finishing at 10,778.58, while the Nasdaq fell 16.64 points during the week, closing Friday at 2,256.73.

Investors searching for good news that might revive a year-end rally after a two week break were disappointed. However, analysts are expecting a solid holiday shopping season, with cheaper oil prices contributing to improving consumer confidence.

What to expect this week

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The markets are keenly awaiting the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's meeting on 13th December 2005 to review the interest rates. The Fed is expected to raise its federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent.

Further the movement in crude oil prices, which had gone up, are also expected to decide the market sentiment. With the Sensex crossing the 9000 barrier, analysts expect buying interest to firm up in the coming week.