Weekly Review: Sensex, Nifty end flat; rupee breaches 67 against dollar

Domestic equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty ended the week flat amid significant global events such as US Fed meet and Bank of Japan monetary policy review. Investors also remained cautious ahead of June 23 referendum over Britain exit from the European union next week.

The 30-share index fell marginally 9.84 points to 26,625.91 on June 17 from 26,635.75 on June 10. However, the 50-share index closed unchanged at 8,170.

In the Nifty 50 pack, Bharti Infratel tumbled the most — 9.83 per cent to Rs 337.70 for the week ended June 17. ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tata Power, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel plunged 5.46 per cent, 3.46 per cent, 3.41 per cent, 2.89 per cent and 2.75 per cent and stood among other major losers of the week.

On the other hand, GAIL, State Bank of India, Hindalco, Bank of Baroda and ITC gained 4.89 per cent, 3.37 per cent, 2.86 per cent, 2.67 per cent and 2.37 per cent, respectively in the past five trading sessions.

Sectorwise, BSE Telecom index, Bankex, Healthcare and Auto index dipped 1.83 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 0.44 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively, during the week under review.

Rohit Gadia, founder and chief executive officer, CapitalVia Global Research said, “Fed decision of keeping interest rate unchanged and Bank of Japan refraining from further monetary easing made market nervous, however buying at lower level saved markets from any fall.”

On the domestic front, March quarter current account deficit narrowed to lowest in 7 years, lowering the gap between imports and exports is a sign of robustness of the Indian economy.

In a swift move government on Thursday imposed 20 per cent export duty on the sugar to calm down domestic price spiral, which adversely affected the stock prices of listed sugar companies on Friday.

PSU banks remained favourites this week with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiling new scheme to tackle bad loans.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the domestic equity markets as they poured Rs 295.95 crore during the week. Rupee depreciated by 0.56 per cent to 67.17 against dollar on June 17 from 66.79 on June 10.

The anxiety over Brexit has increased volatility in the global markets leading to strong buying in haven assets like gold which gained by over 2 per cent for the week.

On the likely exit of Britain from European Union, Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said, “Brexit could be a major risk to global sentiments and domestic markets till referendum concludes.”

On the domestic front no significant events are lined up, however, any development towards passing GST will define the trend in the near-term. The global cues will determine the direction of market led by Brexit, US homes sales, crude and employment data.

For the upcoming coming week, Siddhartha Khemka, head, research, Centrum Wealth said, “The overall short term trend though still remains range-bound with resistance seen near 8,220 while support has been strong on drops towards 8,050. The overall structure on the other hand is bullish as long as the index is trading above 8,000.”