Indices close flat for the week after testing crucial levels

Rex Mathew
10 June 2005

Markets cheered the arrival of monsoon on Monday with a surge in early trades, only to give up all the gains later in the day and close on a flat note. Power stocks were the flavour of the day while Reliance group stocks held firm.

Tuesday was the day of private bank stocks as stocks of almost all the big banks surged. HDFC Bank was the single largest gainer followed by ICICI Bank. PNB and HDFC also posted significant gains.

Wednesday saw most frontline stocks surge and indices close above important psychological levels of 6800 and 2100 for the Sensex and Nifty respectively. Infosys led from the front with gains of over 3 per cent, reclaiming the position as the most valuable technology company in the process.

Profit booking emerged on Thursday as some of the stocks which saw significant gains over the previous few days declined. Technology stocks and select bank stocks like ICICI lost ground.

Friday opened as the markets recovered after the previous day's correction. However, the indices could not sustain the highs and declined for the rest of the day. The Sensex and Nifty closed below the crucial levels of 6800 and 2100 respectively, disappointing many traders.

Mid-caps on the other hand were on fire for most of the week with the CNX Mid-cap 200 index posting new all time highs for four consecutive days. The index gave up close to half a per cent on Friday on profit booking.