Mumbai, April 24 (Inditop.com) Benchmark indices for Indian equities ended with modest gains this week even as lesser valued scrips outshone the larger stocks.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) moved up a modest 103.02 points or 0.59 percent to end at 17,694.2 points Friday.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too posted gains to end the week at 5,304.1 points, up 41.5 points or 0.78 percent.
Mid-size and small scrips gained more with the BSE midcap index closing the week 1.55 percent up and the smallcap index 2.03 percent higher.
The top Sensex gainers were SBI (up 10.4 percent), Tata Motors (up 7.6 percent), ICICI Bank (up 6 percent), Hindustan Unilever (up 5.3 percent) and Reliance Power (up 2.8 percent).
Among prominent losers were Tata Steel (down 6.8 percent), TCS (down 4.3 percent), Wipro (down 4.2 percent), ACC (down 3.1 percent) and Hero Honda (down 2.3 percent).
The week saw interest rate-sensitive stocks from realty and banking space gain after the Reserve Bank of India Tuesday hiked the repurchase (repo) rate, the reverse repo rate and the cash reserve ratio by 25 basis points each.
Most analysts expected a 50 basis point increase in the annual policy statement for 2010-11.
According to the BSE, the sectors that attracted interest were banking (up 5 percent), metals (up 3.1 percent) and realty (up 1.4 percent). Realty scrips gave away some gains due to profit selling.
Other important Asian markets ended in losses.
The Japanese Nikkei fell 1.7 percent during the week, its biggest loss in three months, and ended trade at 10,914.46 points. The Hang Seng of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ended in the red for the second consecutive week. It closed Friday at 21,244.49 points.
In Europe, stocks ended on a positive note despite news that Greece would use a European Union sponsored financial aid package to tide over its sovereign debt problems.
London’s FTSE, which was in losses for two days, closed among gains Friday, though it was still down 0.4 percent from last week’s close, while Germany’s DAX ended 1.55 percent higher at 6,259.53 points.
In the US, the Wall Street had a good week. Benchmark indices such as the Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.68 percent at 11,204.28 points, the Nasdaq gained 1.97 percent at 2,530.15 points, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 moved up 2.11 percent at 1,217.28 points.
Analysts expect gains in the US to provide some impetus to world markets next week.
