Sensex hits gold after Goldman ups share outlook
24 Mar 2012
The Indian market closed the week on a positive note after the benchmark index Nifty had its biggest intraday loss yesterday in the whole of 2012. The news of coal blocks allocation scam combined with dismal manufacturing data from Europe and China gave rise to fears of recession in global markets yet again. Spiraling crude prices will aggravate the matter even further.
The Sensex was up 165.27 points or 0.96% at 17361.74, and the Nifty was up 49.75 points or 0.95% at 5278.20.
About 1465 shares advanced, 1421 shares declined, and 523 shares remain unchanged.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Indian stocks to "marketweight" from "underweight" in its latest Asia-Pacific Quarterly Outlook report dated March 22, saying domestic growth will pick up, while stock valuations remain "relatively attractive."
Indian growth will pick up to 7.2% this year and 7.8% in 2013, from 6.9% last year, Goldman added, while slowing core inflation would allow Reserve Bank of India to cut the repo rate by 150 basis points during fiscal 2013.
World stocks held steady below this week's 8-month peak on Friday while the dollar fell broadly as concerns about growth in China and the euro zone and a renewed focus on sovereign debt problems in Italy and Spain kept investors cautious.
Support for both Nifty and Sensex indexes were seen at their 200-day moving averages, with both up about 0.8 percent each on Friday. Still, sentiment remains cautious with India's indexes posting their fifth consecutive weekly loss.
IT giant Accenture raised profit outlook for the year pushing Indian IT majors Infosys and TCS in green.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Hero Motocorp at Rs 2,017.80 up 4.08%, Bharti Airtel at Rs 335.70 up 3.69%, Sun Pharma at Rs 578.95 up 2.71%, GAIL at Rs 370.85 up 2.39% and HDFC Bank at Rs 513.85 up 2.24%.
Top losers on the Sensex were Jindal Steel at Rs 536.15 down 1.9%, Maruti Suzuki at Rs 1,308.60 down 1.68%, ONGC at Rs 267.30 down 1.26%, Coal India at Rs 334.65 down 1.25% and Hindalco at Rs 131.60 down 1.02%.
Most active shares on BSE were SBI, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, HDIL and Rel Capital.
Top gainers on the BSE Midcap - Century, Godrej Properties, Mahindra Holiday, Polaris Tech and Unitech were up 5-10%.
Top losers on the BSE Midcap - Hotel Leela, Voltas, Rajesh Exports, Nat Fert and Indiabulls were down 4-5%.
Top gainers on the BSE Smallcap - Kalyani Steels, Warren Tea, INOX Leisure, Essar Shipping and AP Paper Mills were up 8-10%.
Top losers on the BSE Smallcap - Varun Industries, Som Distilleries, Shristi Infra, West Coast Paper and KGN Enterprises were down 5-20%.