Bulls continue their march

Though the markets seem to be groping for direction and hence lacklustre this week, the bulls continued to surge ahead—fifth week straight—on continuing post-budget rally. Strong index of industrial production (IIP) readings for January (at 16.7%) and continuous buying in information technology, TECk and banking stocks helped the cause. In the process, the Sensex and the Nifty crossed important levels of 17000 and 5100 respectively. The BSE benchmark added 172 points (1.01%) and the NSE bellwether 48 points (0.95%) to their kitty in the week.

On sector front, last week’s top counters were this week’s top losers. BSE Realty and BSE Metal that posted gains of 6.91% and 7.06% last week slid the most and posted losses of 1.64% and 2.09% respectively this week. This week’s toppers were information technology and banking counters, which were up by 2.10% and 1.39% respectively.

In the coming weeks, the market may focus on advance tax payment of India Inc, which will hint towards their fourth quarter earnings and the inflation reading for February (due on March 15, 2010). On the international front, the meeting of Eurozone and European Union’s finance ministers on March 15-16 to decide on Greece government’s plan to reduce the fiscal deficit among others will have an important bearing.