By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian equities markets ended the week marginally lower from its previous weekly close amid prevailing uncertainty in global markets, though traders cheered the country’s better-than-expected industrial numbers.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) fell 0.31 percent or 52.74 points to end at 17,064.95 points Friday. The sensex the week before had closed at 17,117.69 points.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too ended the week on a low at 5,119.35 points, down 16.15 points or 0.31 percent, from its previous weekly close at 5,135.5 points.
Broader indices closed almost unchanged as markets saw buy-ins due to short-covering and renewed interest. The BSE midcap index shed 0.08 percent and the BSE smallcap index went down 0.03 percent.
Over the week, the major gainers on the Sensex were Cipla (3.75 percent), Mahindra and Mahindra (3.28 percent), HDFC Bank (2.96 percent), Reliance Communications (2.65 percent), and Bharat Heavy Electricals (2.62 percent).
Top losers included DLF (6.85 percent), Hindalco Industries (5.65 percent), Infosys (3.55 percent), ITC (3.39 percent), and Tata Steel (2.51 percent).
The sectors that gained the the most during the week were auto (1.57 percent), healthcare (1.46 percent), capital goods rose (0.89 percent), oil & gas (0.22 percent) and power (0.14 percent).
Some of the sectors which came under selling pressure were realty (4.04 percent), IT (2.55 percent), metals (2.42 percent), telecom (1.90 percent) and consumer durables (1.74 percent).
According to data with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors bought scrips worth $188.6 million.
In Asia, investors continued to trade uneasy after last week’s disappointing US job data and on concern about the magnitude of the Euro zone debt crisis. The Japanese Nikkei ended the week with a 1.98 percent loss at 9,705.25 points.
Bargain buys and gains on the Chinese mainland’s exchange helped the Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange close at 19,872.38 points, 0.47 percent higher.
The Chinese Shanghai composite index ended at 2,569.94 points, up 0.64 percent from its previous weekly close as traders gained confidence as retail sales , consumer prices and industrial production data showed economic recovery on track.
Key European indices ended in the green after a successful bond sale by Spain helped reassure traders that the zone’s economy was not in such a bad state after all.
London’s FTSE shut shop 0.74 percent up to close the week at 5,163.68 points. Its French peer CAC ended 2.89 percent higher at 3,555.52 points, while the German DAX closed 1.83 percent up at 6,047.83 points.
Major US markets ended strong Friday as consumer confidence increased and the government said it would do all that was necessary to support the economic recovery.
The benchmark indices such as the Nasdaq rose 1.1 percent to close the week at 2,243.6 points, and the S&P 500 soared 2.51 percent at 1,091.6 points.
The Dow Jones industrial average also closed 2.81 percent up at 10,211.07 points.