By IANS
Mumbai : With foreign institutional investors back in the market as net buyers and economic fundamentals emerging stronger with easing of inflation and strong growth, Indian shares ended higher for the second straight week.
After opening on a strong note, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended Friday at 15,590.42 points, making a net gain of 271.82 points, or 1.77 percent, for the week.
The gains were made in spite of a drop in the index for two of the five trading sessions on Wednesday and Friday, when the Sensex fell by 0.12 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively.
“The main reason for the index gain was the robust performance of the Indian economy,” an analyst said, referring to recent data that showed that India’s gross domestic product grew 9.3 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal.
“Then at the global level, the assurances by the US President (George W. Bush) and the Federal Reserve that they will do everything possible to nurse the US economy back to health also lent support,” the analyst added.
“But looking ahead, the market is expected to move in a narrow range since the Sensex is already testing six-week highs. At the same time, there can be some individual star performers which investors will watch out for.”
During the week under review, much of the support was lent by foreign funds that emerged net buyers of stocks on each of the five trading days. They bought net equity worth $703.3 million during the week, data with the market watchdog showed.
As far as the Sensex goes, it opened strong Monday and gained 103.45 points, or 0.68 percent at 15,422.05 points, and registered another rise of 43.35 points, or 0.28 percent, the next day.
Wednesday saw the index take a marginal fall of 19.25 points, or 0.12 percent, only to make a smart recovery the next day with a rise of 170.16 points, or 1.10 percent to rise to a six-week high of 15,616.31 points.
Some marginal profit taking Friday saw a slight drop of 25.89 points, or 0.17 percent, in the Sensex at 15,590.42 points.
Virtually every sectoral index ended higher, though the performance of the index for fast moving consumer goods was particularly impressive, as it ended higher with gains of 3.68 percent.
The indices for the realty sector, up 3.16 percent, and banking, up 3.01 percent, also performed well. But those of automobiles, metals, oil and natural gas and IT were below the Sensex average.