Markets trying to consolidate at their all-time highs

Rex Mathew
02 July 2005

Markets started the week on a strong note after the sharp upsurge during the previous week which had taken the indices to never before levels. The Sensex touched the 7200-mark for the first time ever. However, early gains could not be held on Monday as profit booking emerged in heavyweights.

All-round profit booking and a sell off in metal stocks saw the markets declining substantially on Tuesday. The Sensex saw a 100 point fall for the first time after a couple of months. Reliance Industries also saw some correction.

The markets bounced back on Wednesday, helped by ONGC and Reliance. The gains in these heavyweights gave a lot of strength to the main indices and helped the markets to recover part of the previous day's losses.

The recovery continued into Thursday as well, as volumes hit an all time high on settlement day. ONGC continued its rally and was supported by VSNL, HDFC and HDFC Bank. Sensex managed to touch 7200 for the second time but could not close above the mark.

The last day of the week saw a sharp decline in ONGC which held the Nifty down in red throughout the day. However, gains in stocks like SBI helped the Sensex to close above 7200 for the first time ever. Nifty closed the week well above the 2200 mark.

Mid-caps had a difficult period for most of the week. When the markets fell on Tuesday, the decline in mid-caps was much higher than the frontline stocks. Even when the frontline stocks recovered, smaller stocks remained lacklustre. However, on Friday the CNX Mid-cap 200 index finally managed to post significant gains and outperformed the larger indices.