Dalal Street clocked a second straight weekly gain with benchmark indices roaring to record closing highs. IT and private sector financial stocks were at the forefront of the rally that helped the NSE Nifty50 index cross the 16,500 mark for the first time.
NSE
For the week, the S&P BSE Sensex index gained 1,159.57 points or 2.12 percent and the 50-scrip gauge climbed 290.90 points or 1.79 percent. Sensex and Nifty ended the week at record closing highs of 55,437.29 and 16,529.10 respectively.
Broader indices underperformed the headline gauges though many midcap and smallcap stocks recovered from deeper losses seen during the week.
Steps announced by BSE to curb excessive movement in smaller stocks bruised hundreds of midcap and smallcap stocks. But later the bourse's clarification that the restrictions will be limited to 31 stocks for now provided some relief to the segment.
The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices fell 1.24 percent and 2.20 percent for the week respectively.
Among NSE's sectoral gauges, the Nifty IT, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank indices rose the most. The IT and banking indices gained 4.39 percent and 1.01 percent for the week respectively.
Also read: TCS, Infosys better plays vs midcap IT, says Saurabh Mukherjea
On the other hand, pharmaceutical, healthcare, PSU bank and real estate saw selling pressure. The Nifty Pharma and Nifty PSU Bank barometers slumped 3.23 percent and 2.24 percent for the week respectively.
Macroeconomic data indicating cooling inflation and a pickup in industrial production supported market sentiment, say analysts.
"With positive economic data pointing towards economic recovery, the market is expected to remain bullish in the long term while the possibility of a short correction in the near-term cannot be ruled out," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In the Nifty50 universe, 27 stocks logged weekly gains. Top performers this week were Tech Mahindra (closing 9.39 percent higher), HCL Tech (7.05 percent), Power Grid (5.51 percent), Bharti Airtel (4.66 percent), TCS (4.42 percent), Infosys (3.86 percent), L&T (3.40 percent), Tata Consumer (3.06 percent) and Wipro (3.01 percent).
Nifty gainers
| Stock | Weekly change |
| Tech Mahindra | 9.39% |
| HCL Tech | 7.05% |
| Power Grid | 5.51% |
| Bharti Airtel | 4.66% |
| TCS | 4.42% |
| Infosys | 3.86% |
| L&T | 3.40% |
Also read: Is the euphoria around IPOs fading?
Nifty losers
| Stock | Weekly change |
| Eicher Motors | -7.37% |
| Shree Cement | -6.29% |
| Dr Reddy's | -3% |
| Grasim | -2.21% |
| Hero MotoCorp | -2.11% |
| Cipla | -1.85% |
| Maruti Suzuki | -1.45% |
On the other hand, Eicher Motors (down 7.37 percent), Shree Cement (6.29 percent), Dr Reddy's (3 percent), Grasim (2.21 percent) and Hero MotoCorp (2.11 percent) were the worst hit among the 23 laggards.
In the midcap space, Tejas Networks, Laxmi Organic, Shriram City, Max Ventures and Jubilant Ingrevia were the top weekly gainers. On the flipside, McLeod Russel, Aurobindo Pharma, Huhtamaki PPL, Sudarshan Chem and Venus Remedies were among the losers.
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)