By IANS
Mumbai : Despite a strong rally Thursday that saw a key market index gain close to 1.5 percent, Indian equities ended with only marginal gains during the week ended Friday with trading marked by high volatility.
Looking ahead, analysts feel, quick intra-day corrections will continue to keep the markets from making any major gains though there could be individual stocks that will buck the general trend either way, based on their quarterly results.
"On the one hand, there is positive news on prices, with inflation rate down to 5.7 percent from over six percent, which should ease the pressures on interest rates," an analyst with a leading brokerage here said.
"But on the other, the rupee is close to nine-year highs, which is eroding the profits of exporters, and technology stocks in particularly could be hit hard. So there are reasons for major swings both ways," the analyst added.
During the week under review, trading was reduced to just three days against the normal five because of public holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday.
As the week drew to a close Friday, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended with a gain of 25.69 points, or 0.18 percent, at 13,934.27 points, over the previous week's close at 13,908.58 points.
Trading began on a negative note Monday, when the key index shed 36.21 points. But Tuesday saw the index zoom up by 205.84 points, or 1.48 percent, managing to close above the psychologically important 14,000-point mark at 14,078.21 points.
But much of the gains were eroded Friday when the barometer index shed 143.94 points, or 1.02 percent. Still, the index was up by a healthy 1,078.19 points, 8.39 percent, over the past month, BSE data showed.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) emerged net sellers during the week to the extent of $100.7 million, while domestic funds were net buyers, data with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed.