Equities end flat for the week despite Sensex touching fresh 2-year high

Amid steady buying by foreign institutional investors, December quarter results guided the market direction even as some of the mid-cap and small-cap counters from the infra and realty space experienced sell-off after concerns related to their financial stability resurfaced.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex rallied 179.75 points, or 0.9%, on Friday to reclaim the 20,000-mark and closed at a fresh two-year high.

The broader Nifty, on the other hand, gained 55.3 points to end the week at 6,074.65, a tad lower than its Monday’s close of 6,082.3.

For the week, however, the Sensex added 65 points, or 0.3%, while the Nifty advanced 0.17% or 10 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors extended their purchases by $800 million , pushing their year-to-date buying to close to $3.3 billion even as domestic institutions sold about $685 million.

As per Morgan Stanley, with a receipt of $1.7 billion, India accounted for about 7% of the inflow in the emerging market funds in the year so far.

The week started on a positive note as the third quarter numbers of Reliance Industries pleased the Street with a higher-than-expected 24% growth in its net earnings for the period. The stock rallied more than 2% on Monday and settled the week at R911.9 , a gain of 1.4%.

The results of ITC, L&T and Maruti Suzuki provided bright spots for the market, adding to the hopes of recovery in the earnings

... contd.