MUMBAI, Apr 19 (Business Standard): The benchmark indices ended the truncated, albeit volatile week of trade, on a listless note. The Sensex oscillated in a range of about 500 points between an intra-week high of 22,737 and a low of 22,247 before closing unchanged at 22628 and the Nifty edged higher by three points to 6779. There was out-performance on the broader market front, though, with the midcap index and smallcap index strengthening by 0.8 per cent each at 7339 and 7524 respectively.
The sedate close to the week actually camouflages the battle between the bulls and bears for supremacy that culminated in an inconclusive draw of sorts for the time being. The bears dominated the first two sessions of the week, but the bulls hit back with a vengeance on last Thursday with a 352-point rally that offset the losses during the initial part of the week.
In the process, they managed to successfully defend the psychologically important 6700 mark on the Nifty on a weekly closing basis. It may be recalled that benchmark indices had ended higher by 1.2 per cent in the previous week as foreign institutional investors remained overweight on India and continued their buying spree.
The stock market was shut on last Monday on account of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti and on Friday due to Good Friday.
Among the sectoral indices, the BSE FMCG index saw immense buying activity to register gains of 2.2 per cent, while Auto and Oil & Gas added over 0.6 per cent. However, the realty index declined by 4 per cent, the metal and capital goods were down 0.8-1 per cent and the bank index slipped 0.4 per cent.
In economy-related news, the headline WPI inflation surprised the street negatively by rising above street expectations. The inflation re-accelerated in March to 5.7 per cent Y-o-Y, the fastest pace since December. Wholesale price inflation re-accelerated in March as price growth across all the major WPI categories increased. Food price inflation ticked higher as vegetable prices rose quickly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation also quickened to 8.31 per cent in March 2014 as compared to 8.03 per cent in February 2014 owing to higher inflation in fruits and vegetables which stood at 17.19 per cent and 16.80 per cent respectively during the month.
The global credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said that it may upgrade India's rating outlook if the government that is elected next month addresses some of the country's fiscal and economic challenges through steps such as passing a goods and services tax.
It was also a big week for Lok Sabha elections - the fifth phase (the biggest among nine phases) of voting for 121 constituencies across 12 states was held on last Thursday, which included all of Karnataka, some parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
