Mumbai: Stocks: Market posted fourth straight weekly rise, lifted by buying in select counters, as the benchmark Sensex closed near five month highs by gaining 134.50 points to close at 28,468.75, while the broader Nifty held above the key 8,800-level.
Opening on a lacklustre note, the market reverberated the week on tepid earning results in Auto and Pharma stocks, while, in key macro-data's of retail inflation which saw multiyear lows and WPI inflation which accelerated to 30 month -highs were duly sidelined.
The market got stung by selling pressure during the middle of the week on hawkish comments from US Fed Chair Janet Yellen on interest rate hike next month leading to heightened capital outflow fears from emerging economies.
The sentiment reversal came after a barrage of stock specific news which resulted the zooming in index majors, starting from IT bellwether TCS climbed after reports over shares buy-back proposal in its forthcoming board meet on February 20, RBI's removal of restriction on foreign investors holdings leading HDFC banks stocks rising to 52 week highs and slew of approvals in Pharma companies by foreign regulators, before some profit-booking in key stocks capped the gains.
The Sensex resumed sharply higher at 28,450.42 and zoomed to 28,726.26 and a low of 28,102.23 before finishing at 28,468.75, showing gain of 134.50 points or 0.47 per cent. It gained 1,434.25 points four weeks.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also rose by 28.15 points or 0.32 per cent to 8,821.70 after moving in a range of 8,896.45 and 8,712.85. Buying was witnessed in IT, Teck, HealthCare and Banking stocks. While substantial profit-booking was seen in Realty, Auto, PSUs., Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Metals and IPOs.
The broader midcap and smallcap companies shares also incurred modest selling
