Weekly Review: Market posts 3rd weekly gain, up by 296 points

Mumbai: Market posted third straight weekly rise, registering impressive gains in the week despite heated geopolitical tension. Both the Sensex and the Nifty built on last week's surge to inch closer towards their all-time highs.

Market sentiment was also boosted after the government said India and China agreed to disengagement at Doklam area.

The Benchmark Sensex closed by rising 296.17 points to close at 31,892.23, while the broader Nifty settle above the key 9,900-level.

After an extended holiday weekend, the market started on a positive note with significant gains in Monday?s session. However, news of North Korea firing a missile over Japan, shook global markets sending jitters down the investor?s minds.

Geopolitical woes played out to be a spoiler, yet again in this week. North Korean military action came under the scanner for firing a missile on Tuesday.

The Indian benchmark indices tanked over 1 percent, reacting to this news. The fears were short lived, as the bulls looked over geopolitical issues and lifted the market back to life in the later part of the week. Market witnessed volatility in Thursday?s session in view of the August derivative series expiry.

Economic data that was released on Thursday showed that India?s GDP has dipped to 5.7 percent, y/y, in Q1 FY2018.

This is the lowest level of economic growth in about three years. The deceleration in growth is primarily attributed to the government?s demonetisation move and GST reform.

The Sensex opened higher at 31,756.87, and zoomed to 31,944.10 and a low of 31,360.81 before finishing at 31,892.23, showing a gain of 296.17 points or 0.94 percent.

It gained 678.64 points three weeks.

The NSE 50-share Nifty started the week at above the 9,900 mark and traded in the range of 9,783.75 and 9,983.45. The index closed for the week at 9,974.40, up by 117.35 points or 1.19 percent.

All-round buying was witnessed, Realty, IPO, Metal, Oil&Gas, Auto, FMCG and Capital Goods stocks rose, followed by midcap and smallcaps.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 24.29 crores during the week, as per Sebi's record including the provisional figure of September 01.

Broad market depicted strength. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 2.84 percent. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 3.09 percent. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

Among the S&P, BSE sector and industry indices, realty rose by 4.72 percent, followed by IPO 3.92 percent, metal 3.65 percent, oil&gas 2.60 percent, auto 2.55 percent, FMCG 1.82 percent, capital goods 1.47 percent, consumer durables 1.35 percent, healthcare 1.24 percent, power 0.91 percent, bankex 0.62 percent, IT 0.25 percent and teck 0.18 percent.

Among the 31-share Sensex pack, 20 stocks gained and remaining 11 stocks declined during the week.

Asian Paints surged by 6.88 percent followed by Bajaj Auto 6.84 percent, Dr Reddy 6.20 percent, Hero Motoco 4.16 percent, Adani Ports 3.84 percent, HUL 3.12 percent, Reliance 2.68 percent, Maruti 2.77 percent and Wipro 2.49 percent.

ITC edged lower from the Sensex pack by 9.91 percent. It was followed by Bharti Artl 2.40 percent, Power Grid 2.13 percent, M&M 2.12 percent, Tata Motors DVR 1.40 percent, TCS 1.27 percent and Coal India 1.18 percent.

The total turnover during the week at BSE and NSE rose to Rs 16,825.28 crore and Rs 1,32,979.48 crore, respectively, as against last weekend's level of Rs 13,129.53 crore and Rs 96,749.62 crore.