Markets closed the holiday shortened week of 28th February with gains. S&P BSE Sensex closed at its highest level in over five weeks. The week started off on a positive note as the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C Rangarajan said that India's CAD was expected to be around two percent of GDP during the current fiscal on the back of slackening imports and increased shipments. Further cheer came by way of the Business Confidence Index (BCI) data released by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCEAR) rose by about 21.8 percent in January 2014 to 122.3 points from 100.4 in July-September quarter survey. According to the survey, highest growth was recorded in the manufacturing sector due to intermediate goods and non-durables.
Since it was the last week of the month, February F&O series expiry also brought in some cheer. The February series that expired a day earlier due to Thursday being a market holiday, turned out positive as benchmarks snapped the heavy February series with gains of over two percent. The final day of the week also saw some upside at the S&P BSE Sensex settled at five-week high on the back of some strong global cues and market's expectation of some improvement in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for December quarter.
Markets rose in all four trading sessions during the holiday truncated week. The 30-share benchmark index rose consistently through the week to close at a five-week high of 21,120, above the psychological mark of 21,000. Sensex gained 419 points or 2.03% during the week. Broader markets also closed the week with gains, however, underperformed the Sensex. S&P BSE Midcap rose 1.22%, while its smaller counterpart rose by 0.81%.
On the sectoral front, only 3 sectors closed the week with losses, rest gained. Capital goods featured at the top of the table as it gained 5.31% during the week. Capital goods was the top performing sector in the previous week as well, and has gained nearly 10% since the announcement of relaxation of excise duties in the interim budget. Other sectors to close with gains during the week include Healthcare up 4.54 %, Auto up 3.54%, Consumer Durables up by 2.8%. Among the bottom performing sectors, much like last week, Metal was the worst hit as it fell by 3.44%, followed by , Power 1.25% and Realty which was down 0.45 % by the end of the week.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyer in equity segment in the week with gross purchases of Rs 11504.80 crore and gross sales of Rs 9551.40 crore, leading to a net inflow of Rs 1953.40 crore. They stood as net buyer in the debt segment with gross purchases of Rs 6446.80 crore against gross sales of Rs 6101.00 crore, resulting in a net inflow of Rs 345.80 crore.
