Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex triumphed for third week in a row, registering fresh record closing highs by gaining 477.33 points to finish at 33,940.30, while the broader Nifty ended the new peak at 10,493.00.
The week saw stock market celebrating ‘Christmas’ early as BJP won the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections.
The subsequent reverberation led the key indices to mark all time new highs.
The week started Monday with market rallying on prospects of BJPs is going to win election as counting results started trickled in, and the successive days saw the key indices reacting to BJP’s election win underpinning the trading momentum, however, the market also consolidated to end flat for two days on weak global cues and on concerns over RBI corrective action regarding banks bad loans.
Realty, Metal and Auto shares hogged the limelight during the week.
The benchmarks registered all time new peak with Nifty marking 10,500-milestone during the fag-end trade ahead of Christmas, with sentiments supported by the global rally, lifted by the passage of US tax reform bill, which aimed at reducing corporate tax rates also backed by strong US Q3 GDP growth data.
The Sensex started the week gap-down at 33,364.52 and hovered between all-time highs at 33,964.28 and low of 32,595.63 before settling the week fresh record highs of 33,940.30, showing a gain of 477.33, or 1.43 per cent. (The Sensex garnered 630.03 points or 1.92 per cent in during previous two week sessions).
The Nifty also resumed the week gap-down at 10,263.10 and registered new-milestone 10,501.10 and low of 10,493.00 to close the week with fresh record peak at 10,493.00, showing a gain of 159.75 points, or 1.55 per cent.
The Market will remain closed on 25th December, due to Christmas.
The key indices made fresh highs during the week, while across the spectrum buying was seen led by Consumer Durables, Metal, Realty, Capital Goods, Power, Auto, PSUs HealthCare, IT, Teck, Oil&Gas, FMCG and Banking counters.
The broader midcap and and smallcap company shares also stole the show and within touching distance of their record highs.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold whopping shares worth Rs 3,805.31 crore during the week, as per Sebi’s record including the provisional figure of December 22.
Broader market rallied. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index jumped 3.53 per cent at Rs 599.06 and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index spurted 4.52 per cent at Rs 820.55. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
Among sectoral and industry indices, Consumer Durables climbed followed by metal, realty, consumer goods, power, auto, healthcare, IT, Tech, Oil&Gas and FMCG.
Among the 31-share Sensex pack, 22 stocks rose and remaining eight stocks fell during the week.
ICICI Bank surged 4.27 percent at Rs 316.40, Wipro rose 4.51 per cent at Rs 301.10, Bharti Airtel advanced 2.32 per cent at Rs 531.05, NTPC rose 1.44 percent at Rs 179.80, HeroMotoCorp surged 8.11 percent at Rs 3,785.95 and HDFC Bank was up 0.23 per cent at Rs 1,877.35.
However, IndusInd Bank dropped 1.85 percent at Rs 1,648.85, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories fell 1.64 per cent at Rs 2,333.05, Index heavyweight and housing finance major HDFC was down 0.84 per cent at Rs 1,708.35 and Coal India dropped 1.86 per cent at Rs 266, Kotak bank fell 1.85 per cent at Rs 1,009.95 and Reliance eased 0.15 per cent to 918.50.
The total turnover during the week on BSE rose to Rs 26,746.88 crs as against last weekend’s level of Rs 22,617.36 crore and NSE climbed to 1,61,033.21 crore compared to Rs 1,37,439.25 crore previously.
Bullish trend boosts gold
Extending its gains for the second straight week, gold prices advanced by Rs 145 to close the week at Rs 28,695 per 10 grams on persistent demand from stockist and retailer amidst bullish trend overseas.
Mild local buying interest due to marriage season also supported the gold sentiments.
Elsewhere, silver too maintained its second weekly surge to regain its 37K level up by another Rs 385 per kg to end the week at Rs 37,180 due to sustained speculative buying coupled with higher industrial offtake.
Globally, Gold futures ended higher Friday, closing the books on back-to-back positive trading weeks and padding a year-to-date gain that’s near 10 per cent.
The metal built on modest gains after a flurry of economic news offered a mixed picture on the economy, data that could still back up expectations for continued,if modest, Federal Reserve interest-rate tightening deep into 2018.
February gold the most-active contract on Comex, rose USD 8.20, or 0.6 per cent, to end at USD 1,278.80 an ounce.
Gold futures saw a 1.7 per cent weekly gain. The yellow metal’s futures have climbed roughly 11 per cent for the year, a gain largely accumulated in the early months.
In fact, data show that prices have been confined to their narrowest trading range of any quarter in a decade in the last three months of 2017.
Indeed, gold is still more than 7 per cent off its intraday high for 2017 above USD 1,360 set in early September.
Among other metals, March silver rose by 20 cents, or 1.2 per cent, to an USD 16.44 an ounce.
In the New York Comex trade, gold for February delivery climbed to USD 1,278.80 an ounce compared to last Friday’s close of USD 1,257.50 and silver for March contract rose to end at USD 16.44 an ounce from USD 16.063.
On the domestic front, standard gold (99.5 purity) resumed slightly lower at Rs 28,500 per 10 grams from last Friday’s closing level of Rs 28,550, it rose to Rs 28,670 before settling at Rs 28,695, revealing a gain of Rs 145, or 0.51 per cent.
Pure gold (99.9 purity) also commenced lower at Rs 28,650 per 10 grams compared to preceding weekend level of Rs 28,700, it regained to climbed at Rs 28,820 before closing at Rs 28,845, showing a rise of Rs 145, or 0.51 percent.
Silver ready (.999 fineness) opened positive at Rs 36,915 per kilogram from last Friday’s closing level of Rs 36,795, and rose further to Rs 37,200 before finishing at Rs 37,180, registering a rise of Rs 385 per kilo, or 1.05 per cent.
Volatile week for rupee
The rupee ended little changed with negative bias against the US dollar despite the rollercoaster ride it endured during the highly volatile week asssociated with political chaos.
Overall forex market sentiment witnessed a near-term turmoil after a sense of panic and disbelief rippled through currency trading after initial trends suggested that the ruling BJP was lagging behind in Gujarat election results.
The home currency suffered a day of wild swings Monday, tumbling over 70 paise for its biggest intra-day fall of the year before a similarly steep rebound.
It touched a low of 64.74 and a high of 63.94 on intra-day levels.
The Indian currency largely withstood initial wobble and staged a spectacular rebound after poll results showed that the BJP is set to keep power in Gujarat and topple the Congress in Himachal Pradesh, proving a big relief.
Besides, heavy dollar unwinding by speculative traders and exporters further supported the rupee recovery.
A record breaking rally in domestic equities along with heavy capital inflows too weighed on the trade.
In the meantime, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers to the tune of USD 237.16 mln in domestic equities this week.
Country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 488.2 million to USD 401.385 billion in the week to December 15, due to rise in foreign currency assets, a RBI data showed.
In global commodity trade, crude prices ended at their highest levels since 2015 on pledges from OPEC leader Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC Russia that any exit from crude output cuts would be gradual.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, ended the session up 35 cents at USD 65.25 a barrel, its highest close since June 2015.
Globally, the US dollar ended lower against most of the major currencies on the back of an unexpected downward revision in Q3 GDP, but still the fastest pace of growth since the first quarter 2015 amid fading tax cut excitement.
The US Senate has approved the most sweeping overhaul of the US tax system in more than three decades affecting businesses, individuals and families.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the rupee resumed lower at 64.15 from last Friday’s close of 64.04 on fresh bouts of dollar demand.
It later nosedived to hit an intra-day low of 64.74 on panic dollar buying before making a smart recovery touch a fresh 3-month high of 63.94 before settling with a mere loss of one paisa at 64.05.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the USD at Rs 64.0409 and euro at Rs 75.8821, respectively.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies ended lower at 92.88 as compared to 93.96 last week.
Elsewhere, the Euro depreciated sharply against the US dollar after pro-independence parties in Catalonia triumphed in Thursday’s regional elections also impacted by renewed concerns that tensions between Barcelona and Madrid could escalate.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee gained further ground against the British pound to finish at 85.63 per pound from 85.88 and bounced back sharply against the Japanese Yen to close at 56.50 per 100 yens from 57.10 last weekend.
The local currency, howver fell back against the Euro to settle at 75.91 as compared to 75.59.
In the forward market, premium for dollar remained weak due to sustained receiving from exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable for May dropped to 117-119 paise from 127.50-129.50 paise and the far-forward contract maturing in November 2018 also moved down to 252-254 paise from 266-268 paise last Friday. (PTI)