Markets post modest gains this week

The Indian markets closed with marginal gains and remained in a narrow range throughout the week.

Major news for the week

Food inflation at 9.18% versus 9.5%

BHEL provisional FY11 net profit up 40%

Tata Steel sales up 4% in FY11

Local car sales rise 24% in March



Indian indices

The Indian markets were in a consolidation mode this week and remained in a tight range. After strong run for the past few sessions, the markets traded lacklustre and did not show major movements. There were no great triggers to lift markets higher, which led the key indices to trade in a narrow range throughout this week. Profit booking emerged after recent smart rally. Rise in crude oil prices to 2-1/2 year high was a major worry. Investors showed interest in the broader indices this week, with BSE Midcap up 2.73% and BSE Smallcap up 4.96% outperforming the Sensex.

The Sensex swung 423 points between a high of 19811 and a low of 19388 and closed at 19451, up by 31 points or 0.16%. The Nifty swung about 122 points between a high 5944 and a low of 5822 and ended at 5842, up 16 points or 0.27%.

Global indices

Majority of the global markets performed well this week. The European indices were the only losers in the range of 0.01-0.65%. The European Central Bank hiked interest rates from 1% to 1.25% - the first time it has raised rates in nearly three years, after Portugal became the third country to request an European Union bail out. China's central bank raised interest rates for the fourth time since October in a bid to bring stubbornly high inflation under control. The major gainer of the week was Hang Seng, up by 2.5%. The Sensex rose marginally by 0.16%.

Sectoral and stock screening

All the sectors ended the week on a higher note except BSE Oil & Gas down by 0.90%. BSE Capital Goods (CG) was the top performer advancing by 2.97%, following that BSE Realty rose by 2.77% and BSE Consumer Durables (CD) surged by 2.33%.

On 'A' group stocks' front, Suzlon Energy was the top gainer of the week rising by 13.38%, followed by Jai Corp gained by 12.32% and Areva T&D India surged by 11.14%. Top three losers of the week — D B Realty dropped by 5.32%, TVS Motor Company fell by 4.53% and DLF slipped by 4.37%.

FII/MF activity

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained optimistic on the Indian markets and pumped Rs6,749.4 crore this week as against Rs4,543.4 crore seen in the previous week. The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stood net sellers for the second straight week to the tune of Rs610.3 crore as compared to net sell of Rs846.4 crore seen in the previous week.

Market Outlook

Next week is a very truncated one, just three days of trading. Raft of events scheduled next week include index of industrial production (IIP) numbers for February on April 12, 2011, monthly & weekly inflation on April 14, 2011. India Inc's earnings session kicking off with IT major and Sensex heavyweight Infosys Technologies will announce its results on April 15, 2011. All these important events may decide the course of the market in the near term. FII flows and developments across the globe may have some bearing on the markets.