By IANS
Mumbai : Bulls were on the rampage on Indian bourses during the week ended Friday, buoyed by a sharp fall in inflation rate to five-year highs and the lowering of interest rates announced by the US Fed.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) saluted the developments with a whopping 960-point rise, or as much as 6.16 percent, to close at 16,564.23 points, over previous week’s close at 15,603.80 points.
In fact, the 653.63-point or 4.17 percent rise Wednesday, during which the Sensex closed above the 16,000-point for the first time, was the highest intra-day gain ever.
“The main trigger was definitely the 50 basis point cut in the benchmark rate by the US Fed, which was the first in four years and much larger than expected,” said an analyst with a leading brokerage here.
“The rate cut not only set global markets ablaze but also triggered a strong rally in the Indian markets where investors were just waiting for some prompt to get back the momentum gained last month,” the analyst added.
Data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign institutional investors also contributed to a large extent to the rally with net purchases worth $1.19 billion.
“Looking forward, although there will be some minor corrections, the overall sentiments will remain strong and focus will shift to corporate second quarter results for the period ending Sep 30,” the analyst added.
Trading during the week began on a weak note with the key index dropping 99.37 points, or 0.52 percent, at 15,504.43 points. But then onwards, the markets were on a roll.
The Sensex gained 164.69 percent or 1.06 percent Tuesday, another 653.63 points or 4.17 percent Wednesday, 25.20 points Thursday and finished with a flourish, rising 216.28 points, or 1.32 percent Friday.
As a result, the key index ended the week with an overall gain of 6.16 percent, or 960 points, comfortably above the 16,000-point mark at 16,564.23. The index took all of 53 days to climb from the 15,000-point mark to the 16,000 level.
A look at the sector-specific indices of the BSE showed that oil and gas shares led the gainers, with the index up 11.4 percent, followed by 7.4 percent for banking, seven percent for metals and 6.6 percent for state-run firms.
Only information technology and healthcare indices ended in the red, losing 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.