Mumbai: Stocks: Heavy profit booking at the fag-end of the week pulled down the S&P BSE benchmark Sensex by 96 points to close at 29,182.95 and CNX Nifty by 27 points to end at 8,808.90 from their all-time high of 29,844.16 and 8,996.60 respectively.
Trading for the week started on a strong note, but the trend reversed on the last trading session of the week when large caps declined sharply. Volatility was high as traders rolled over positions in the futures & options (F&O) segment from the January 2015 series to February 2015 series. The January 2015 derivatives contracts expired on Thursday.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell by 95.89 points or 0.33 pct to 29,182.95. The index hit a record high of 29,844.16 in intraday trade during the week.
The 50-unit CNX Nifty also fell by 26.70 points or 0.30 pct to 8,808.90 after hitting an all-time intraday high of 8,996.60.
However, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 42.92 points or 0.40 pct to 10,738.59 while S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 36.83 points or 0.32 pct to 11,329.26.
The stock market was closed on Monday, 26 January 2015, for Republic Day.
Index heavyweights led rally in key benchmark indices on the first trading session of the week on Tuesday.
This was after India and the US on last Sunday reached an understanding on resolving the logjam in implementing the historic 2006 India-US nuclear deal and decided to take defence cooperation to a new level following a bilateral meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama.
Bank stocks led a sharp slide in key benchmark indices after disappointing results from ICICI Bank and weak results from state-run Bank of Baroda (BoB).
Among the 30 Sensex shares, 17 declined and the remaining rose.
Coal India was the biggest Sensex loser of the week.
The stock fell 8.39 percent to Rs 360.85. The divestment of the government's 10 percent stake in state-run Coal major was concluded through the stock exchanges mechanism through a single trading session on Friday.
State Bank of India fell by 5.30 percent to Rs 310. The state-run bank on Tuesday announced that the Committee of Directors for Capital Raising has decided to take enabling approval from the shareholders for raising additional equity share capital up to Rs 15,000 crore.
ICICI Bank fell 2.51 percent to Rs 361.15 even as the bank's net profit rose 14.09 percent to Rs 2,889.04 crore on 8.91 percent increase in total income to Rs 15,526.88 crore in third quarter of December 2014 over the same period of December 2013 while net non-performing assets (NPA) edged up to Rs 4,831 crore as on December 31, 2014, from Rs 3,997 crore as on September 30, 2014 and Rs 3,121 crore as on December 30, 2013.
Mahindra & Mahindra (down 7.15 percent), Hindalco (down 3.42 percent), Infosys (down 3.22 percent), Hindustan Unilever (down 3.09 percent), Tata Steel (down 3.03 percent) and Bajaj Auto (down 2.45 percent) were the other losers from the Sensex pack.
India's largest cigarette maker by sales, ITC jumped 5.54 percent to Rs 368.60. It was the top Sensex gainer of the week.
HDFC Bank ended up by 3.17 percent after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval to the proposal of the private sector bank for maintaining the permissible foreign holding in the bank.
Other major gainers from the Sensex pack were Bharat Heavy Electricals (up 4.61 percent), Axis Bank (4.19 percent), Reliance Industries (3.20 percent), Cipla (3.16 percent), Tata Power (1.97 percent) and NTPC (1.30 percent).
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed rules for companies and banks to restructure and reschedule existing overseas borrowings by permitting an increase in the total cost of external commercial borrowing (ECB).
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday said the US economy was expanding "at a solid pace" with strong job gains in a signal that the central bank remains on track with its plans to raise interest rates this year.
The Fed repeated it would be "patient" in deciding when to raise benchmark borrowing costs from zero, though it also acknowledged a decline in certain inflation measures.
After a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, policymakers struck an upbeat tone on the US economy's prospects and held to their view that energy-led weakness in inflation would dissipate.
Foreign institutional investors continued to invest in equity shares and they have invested Rs 4,021.13 crore during the week including the provisional figure of January 30, as per the SEBI's record.
The total turnover at BSE and NSE moved down to Rs 15,646.03 crore and Rs 93,969.64 crore, respectively from the last weekend's level of Rs 22,149.42 crore and Rs 94,845.96 crore.
Forex: The Indian rupee snapped its 4-week winning spree against the American currency, slipping 44 paise to 61.86 per dollar on month-end dollar demand from importers and banks.
The rupee resumed slightly lower at 61.49 per dollar as against the last weekend's level of 61.42 and fell further to 62.03 on good dollar demand from importers and some banks.
However, it recovered afterwards to 61.29 on selling of dollars by exporters in view of strong foreign capital inflows into equity market as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) infused a net USD 779.85 USD million during the week as per SEBI's record.
The rupee ended at 61.86 per dollar as against the last weekend's level of 61.42, showing a gain of 44 paise or 0.73 percent. It moved in a range of 61.29 and 62.0350 per dollar during the week.
The domestic currency had gained by 215 paise or 3.38 percent in the previous four weeks.
Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark sensex dropped by 95.89 points or 0.33 percent to 29,182.95 after hitting an all-time high of 29,844.16.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said," After appreciating for four weeks last week Rupee lost its way and depreciated by one percent during the week. The month end dollar demand from oil importers and corporates forced Rupee to trade weak and close at 61.86". Also the local equities lost its ground last week and posted first weekly loss in three weeks which further dented the movement of Rupee.
