Market gains for 6th straight week

The Indian markets maintained its uptrend for the sixth week in a row. The Sensex up 0.82% and the Nifty up 1.05%
Headlines for the week
India’s GDP to grow 6.9% in FY12
December IIP at 1.8% vs 5.9% in November
January car sales up 7.2%, bikes rise 10.5%
FM to present budget on March 16
Bharti Airtel Q3 consolidated net profit at Rs1011 crore
ONGC Q3 net profit declines by 5%
HUL Q3 net profit up 18%



Indian indices
The Indian markets continued to rise for the sixth consecutive week on persistent buying by foreign funds. Volatility was seen throughout the week. However, there was some disappointment on the last day of the week due to poor December IIP data. The markets rose in three out of five sessions of the week.
The Sensex swung 311 points between a weekly high of 17890 and a low of 17580 and closed the week higher by 144 points or 0.82% at 17749. The Nifty swung 105 points between a weekly high of 5428 and a low of 5323 and closed the week higher by 56 points or 1.05% at 5382.
Global indices
All the major global indices closed the week on a positive note. However, there were only two losers — FTSE 100 and CAC40 fell 0.09% each. Top three gainers — Nikkei up by 1.3%, Shanghai Composite up by 0.93% and Sensex up by 0.82%.
Sectoral and stock screening
All the sectoral indices ended the week higher except BSE HC down by 1.01%. Top gainers of the week - BSE Realty up by 5.79%, BSE CD up by 5.77% and BSE Metal up by 4.12%.
Coming to 'A' group stocks, top three gainers of the week – TTK Prestige gained by 40.43%, IFCI jumped by 27.54% and HDIL advanced by 17.98%. Top three losers of the week – Manappuram Finance dipped by 19.88%, Muthoot Finance slipped by 11.84% and Adani Power down by 10.25%.
FII/MF activity
The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased Indian stocks worth a net of Rs3697 crore and the domestic investors sold Indian stocks worth a net of Rs543 crore during the week till February 09, 2012.
Outlook
The earnings season is almost over, with only few companies to come out with their quarterly numbers. The focus will shift to expectations from Union Budget 2012/13. On the macro front, monthly inflation data for January 2012 will be out on Tuesday (February 14, 2012). The changes in the external environment may have bearing on the markets.