What could have been an impressive week for the bulls ended in a whimper. The Sensex crossed the 14k mark but closed well below it due to profit booking. Many observers have been predicting a correction for some time. So, a fall on the bourses was always on the cards. Friday’s sharp dip didn’t took anyone by surprise. Almost all the major index constituents were left battered and bruised. Key indices snapped a six-week winning streak, as investors preferred to book some gains after the recent rally. Is this the beginning of some cooling off or are the bulls gearing up to strike back with vengeance remains to be seen.
The market struggled for direction through the week. Some stocks managed to keep the index up but broadly speaking, the bulls lost momentum towards the end of the week. Capital Goods, Power and Sugar stocks were in the limelight along with select Metal and Pharma stocks. L&T, BHEL, REL, Tata Motors and Tata Steel stood firm in a choppy week, saving the bulls the blushes. Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto, HLL, ACC and Tata Power were among the major losers. Finally, the BSE Sensex closed at 13799, lower by 45 points or 0.3% after touching a new all time high of 14035.30. The NSE Nifty lost 36 points or 0.9% to close the week at 3962.
Sugar stocks were the focus of attention after a long time following reports that Indonesia was in the process of inviting tenders for importing 2 lakh tons of sugar. Reports that India is likely to relax the ban on exporting sugar this month also boosted the sugar scrips. Sakhti Sugar jumped 10.7% to Rs113.7, Balrampur Chini shot up 10.3% to Rs90. Bajaj Hindustan advanced 7.9% to Rs255, Renuka Sugar was up 6.7% to Rs530 and Uttam Sugar added 4.7% to Rs146.
Capital Goods and Power stocks were also in momentum. L&T rose 5.2% to Rs1451, BHEL advanced 4.5% to Rs2636 and ABB gained 3.7% to Rs3828. Auto stocks witnessed profit booking barring Tata Motors. The scrip rose 2.8% to Rs866 during the week. The company’s November total vehicle sales rose 43% to 49061 units. Hero Honda fell over 3.6% to Rs743, Bajaj Auto was down 3.6% to Rs2469. Maruti declined 2% to Rs932 and TVS Motors lost 5.6% to Rs93.
Cement stocks also fell during the week on back of profit booking. ACC declined 2.3% to Rs1105; Gujarat Ambuja was down 1.6% to Rs141, India Cement slipped 3.1% to Rs230 and Birla Corp fell by over 7.4% to Rs338. L&T rose by over 5.2% to close the week at Rs1451 after scaling a high of Rs1490 and a low of Rs1384. L&T attracted buying interest after the company and Tata Power applied for the Rashtriya Udyog Ratna status in order to bid for government's defence contracts. Hindalco advanced 4.6% to Rs179 during the week. Idea Cellular announced its plans to raise up to Rs25bn from IPO. Hindalco holds around 10% stake in the company, which propelled the stock higher.