Stock Market India Analysis

STOCK MARKET ANALYSIS

The Indian markets managed to stage a rally. The big trigger of course was lack of major

disappointments in the Budget. Impressive monthly auto sales figures coupled with upbeat

economic reports further added some boost to the sentiment on Dalal Street. The core sector

growth stood at 7.1% in January versus 6.1% in December. Exports surged 34% in January while

the trade gap shrank. The manufacturing PMI touched the highest level in three months.

The Nifty has managed to stay above 5500. Crude oil remains fairly elevated and won't cool

substantially unless there is material easing of tensions in the Middle-East. For the week, the BSE

Sensex and the NSE Nifty both gained 4.4% each to close at 18,846 and 5538 respectively.

For the week the top gainers in the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki (up 12.3%), Reliance Power (up

11%), ITC (up 10.3%), HDFC (up 9.3%) and HDFC Bank (up 8.6%) while the top loser was Reliance

Infra (down 4.8%).

On Friday, the Indian markets ended flat after three straight days of solid gains as investors

decided to take a pause after the post-Budget rally. Capital Goods, Metals and FMCG stocks were

among the major laggards which kept the NSE Nifty above the 5500 levels. The BSE Mid-Cap and

the BSE Small-Cap stocks were under pressure. On the other hand, Banking, Auto and Realty

stocks were in demand.

The BSE Sensex ended flat at 18,486 and the NSE Nifty closed flat at 5,538.

All BSE indices closed the week in the green. The biggest gainer of the week was BSE-Auto index

(up 8.1%) along with BSE-FMCG index (up 6.8%) as the excise duties remained unchanged on auto

and tobacco products. BSE-Realty index and BSE-Banking index too registered a strong

performance and were up 6.2% and 5.2% respectively. Extension of interest rate subsidy on

affordable housing and further recapitalization of PSU banks fuelled rally in both the sectors.

However, Consumer durable index and the IT index registered modest gains of 2.0% each during

the week.