Thaindian News

Mumbai, Oct 22 (IANS) The Indian equities market closed on a sombre note for the week with a benchmark index shedding 1.74 percent as traders booked profits and eyed European leaders who are supposed to come out with concrete steps to contain the debt crisis.

Indian markets had rallied strongly in the last week.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) ended the week at 16,785.64 points, down 1.74 percent or 297.05 points from its previous week’s close at 17,082.69 points.

The 50-scrip S&P; CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also fell 82.35 points or 1.6 percent during the week to close Friday at 5,049.95 points.

Broader markets too edged lower with the BSE 500 index falling 1.61 percent. The BSE
midcap index closed 1.26 percent lower, while the BSE smallcap index ended 1.2 percent down compared to last Friday’s close.

“For the week, we ended with losses largely due to European concerns and also due to high inflation. Food inflation once again rose to double-digits leading to fears of further policy tightening by the RBI next week,” said Dipen Shah, head - fundamental research, Kotak Securities.

“We believe that the outcome of the meeting between European leaders, RBI policy meeting and futures and option expiry will influence the market direction in the next week. We expect markets to remain volatile and would recommend a bottoms up approach with a long term perspective,” he added.

Futures and options contracts expire Thursday.

Prominent Sensex gainers on a weekly basis were: Jindal Steel, up 7.2 percent at Rs.529.55; Hero MotoCorp, up 4.2 percent at Rs.2,052.10; SBI, up four percent at Rs.1,948.60 and Bajaj Auto, up 3.8 percent at Rs.1,640.55.

Losers included L&T;, down 5.7 percent at Rs.1,336; Hindalco, down 4.8 percent at Rs.121.65; Jaiprakash Associates, down 4.5 percent at Rs.69.55 and DLF, down 4.3 percent at Rs.225.05.

Other Asian markets too fell during the week. Compared to last Friday, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.79 percent to close at 8,678.89 points and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.57 percent to end at 18,025.72 points.

On a weekly basis, the Shanghai Composite index slipped 4.69 percent to close at 2,317.28 points.

European markets closed mixed as traders awaited the outcome of the European Union summit on hopes that a solution to the zone’s crisis would be put forth soon.

Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.41 percent in the week to close at 5,488.65 points. The German DAX closed on a flat note at 5,970.96 points, while the French CAC 40 index moved down 1.45 percent to close at 3,171.34 points Friday.

Wall Street too ended on a mixed note.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.41 percent up on a weekly basis and closed at 11,808.79 points, while the S&P; 500 rose 1.12 percent at 1,238.25 points Friday.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.14 percent to end the week at 2,637.46 points.