Lacklustre week for the markets

Rex Mathew
14 May 2005

Markets opened the week with a very strong secular rally on Monday. Infosys was the star of that day as the stock gained close to 4 per cent after its sponsored ADR offer opened. Satyam and Wipro followed the leader and posted excellent gains. FMCG and auto sectors also saw considerable buying.

Tuesday saw the indices drifting lower on profit booking. Most of the frontline stocks which had performed very well during the previous week declined as traders cut down their exposures.

The weakness continued into Wednesday as a rise in oil prices and weak US markets on the previous day kept the markets wary. Some amount of selling in IT stocks after the large drop in the ADR price of Satyam led to the indices closing weaker.

On Thursday the markets gained marginally as some amount of institutional buying kept the indices up. However, volumes remained lacklustre and the movements in the indices were very measured. Markets almost seem to have forgotten the term volatility.

Friday was yet another dull day as the markets opened weak and gradually gained through the day to close almost flat. Mid-caps were very active on Thursday and Friday with many stocks shooting up 10 to 20 per cent very easily.

US markets, economy and oil