Market Closes The Week On A Flat Note

The markets over the last week remained flat in terms of performance. The Indian markets have withered the fall that we have seen in the other major global indices. The Sensex and the Nifty remained flat, declining by 0.30 per cent and 0.35 per cent respectively during the week.

On the global front, the markets across the major global indices witnessed some beating last week. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 witnessed a fall of more than 3 per cent and on the European front too the CAC and DAX declined by more than 3 per cent. The sentiment around the earnings in Asia has turned sour after the metals and mining companies saw a heavy decline in their quarterly numbers due to the slowing demand from China. On the data front, Japan’s core consumer prices fell for the fifth straight month, which is not at all a good sign, in turn adding pressure on the central bank to reverse the deflation situation and achieve its inflation target. From mixed cues from the U.S. to a deteriorating European economy, the factors have only been adding up to the decline seen in the Asian markets. Investors are therefore keeping a keen eye on the GDP data from the U.S. that is to be declared later today.

Last week the INR witnessed appreciation as compared to other currencies across the world, which can be attributed to the falling crude oil prices.

Crude witnessed a sharp drop last week as it went down by more than 4.30 per cent. The fall can be attributed to subdued economic data that failed to renew interest in the commodity. On the other hand, precious metals like gold went up by more than 2 per cent and silver witnessed a gain of more than 3 per cent last week.

On the broader market front all the indices ended the week in red. The mid-cap and small-cap indices closed the week in red. On the sectoral front, out of the 13 indices, 10 have closed the week in the negative territory. The BSE Capital Goods Index has been the main gainer last week, backed by better results posted by L&T. This has been followed by the BSE Auto Index and the BSE Bankex Index that managed to close the week in green. The major drag factor for the markets last week was the BSE CD Index that went down by 4.26 per cent, followed by the BSE FMCG Index that went down by 3.01 per cent.

There is a lot of optimism in the market at this juncture and we can say that this sentiment is not likely to see any change in the near future. We are in the midst of the earnings’ season and so far the results have been better than expected as had been predicted earlier. It is because of the results that the Indian markets have not witnessed much fall as has been witnessed in the other global indices. Meanwhile, the money inflows remained strong with the FIIs pumping in Rs 1,097 crore during the week in equities. The DIIs ended the week in red, selling off equities worth Rs 398 crore last week. Going forward, in the next week the markets may witness some volatility.