Sensex posts fourth straight weekly gain on FII buying (Weekly Review)

MUMBAI - Bull run continues unabated on the Dalal Street as the country’s benchmark index advanced for the fourth straight week, taking the current month’s gain to 11.5 percent on the back of $4.4 billion foreign funds inflow.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose 184.17 points or 0.93 percent to close at 20,045.18 Friday, offsetting two sessions profit-booking.

The benchmark Sensex gained 2.30 percent or 450 points during the weekly trading ended Sep 24. The index rallied 795.09 points or 4.23 percent in the previous week.

Continued flow of funds by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on the back of strong macro-economic outlook have pushed the benchmark Sensex to the highest level in 32 months. The index crossed psychologically important 20,000 points mark this week, for the first time since Jan 17, 2008.

Expressing happiness over the benchmark Sensex crossing the 20,000-points-mark, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said early this week: “We all know that the Sensex is always a little bit unpredictable. But I am happy that for the first time after January 2008, it has crossed 20,000 points mark.”

Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said the recent rally on the Dalal Street reflects the confidence of investors in the India growth story and that it was a vote of confidence of FIIs.

Indian economy grew 8.8 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2010-11. Finance minister said the GDP growth would be above 8.75 percent in the current fiscal.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty also soared past psychological level of 6,000-points-mark. The index closed 0.99 percent higher at 6,018.3 points Friday.

Broader markets also saw healthy buys. The BSE midcap ended 1.04 percent up and the BSE smallcap index 1.05 percent higher on the last trading day of this week.

The market breadth was positive with 1,836 scrips advancing, compared to 1,131 stocks declining and 117 remaining unchanged Friday.

The major gainers on the Sensex were DLF, up 5.18 percent at Rs.365.65; Hindustan Unilever, up 3.93 percent at Rs.314.65; Hero Honda, up 3.85 percent at Rs.1,865.15; and Bharti Airtel, up 3.56 percent at Rs.368.

Among the losers were: Jindal Steel, down 1.19 percent at Rs.692.70; Sterlite Industries, down 0.23 percent at Rs.172.35; Tata Motors, down 0.17 percent at Rs.1,070.35; and TCS, down 0.11 percent at Rs.931.45.

Other Asian markets were mixed, after the job data from the US showed a rise in number of unemployment claims. The Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.99 percent lower at 9,471.67 points.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 0.33 percent up at 22,119.43 points.

The American and European markets ended the week on positive note.

Dow Jones Industrial index closed 1.86 percent higher at 10,860. S&P 500 advanced 2.12 percent to close at 1,148.67 and Nasdaq closed 2.33 percent higher at 2,381.22.