(Photo: Reuters) 
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(Photo: Reuters) Domestic equity markets ended flat this week. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex closed the week at 27,242, down 0.5% from last Friday. The National Stock Exchange Nifty ended the week at 8,201, down 0.3% from last week.
The markets started the week with a bang on Monday tracking global cues. Both the Sensex (330 points) and the Nifty (98 points) ended the day 1.2% above the closing level of last Friday. However, they lost steam as foreign institutional investors, or FIIs, turned net sellers in view of Christmas and New Year holidays.
In the first three days of the week, FIIs were net sellers of shares worth Rs 1,300 crore, according to the NSDL website.
The sideways trend in large-cap stocks had a rub-off effect on mid-cap and small-cap indices as well. The BSE Mid Cap index closed at 10,116 as against the last Friday's close of 10,000, a jump of 1.16%. The BSE Small Cap index ended the week at 10,894 as against the last Friday's closing level of 10,922.
"Lack of market cues, both globally and domestically, and liquidity drench owing to festive season in the West kept markets sideways," says Rakesh Goyal, senior vice president, Bonanza Portfolio.
Among sectors, the BSE Realty index posted the biggest gain of 2.4%, followed by Auto (0.5%) and Bankex (0.5%). Among the losers were the Capital Goods index, which lost 1.8%, followed by consumer durables (-1.4%) and IT (-1.3%).
Among the Sensex stocks, the biggest gainers during the week were Bharti Airtel (3.38%), NTPC (2.84%) and Mahindra and Mahindra (2.67%). The biggest losers were Hindalco (-3.5%), L&T (-2.77%) and Bhel (-2.74%).
Though there was a lot of positive news domestically - the government bringing in ordinances for reforms in insurance and coal sectors, approval to 100% FDI in medical devices via the automatic route and victory for the BJP in Jharkhand - the markets remained subdued due to FII selling ahead of Christmas holidays.
Globally, crude oil settled around $60 a barrel. Rouble also stabilised after the Russian government hiked interest rates drastically, by seven percentage points. The US GDP grew 5% in the third quarter of 2014, the highest in the last 11 years. Meanwhile, rupee fell by 0.9% against the dollar to 63.64.
According to Vinod Nair, head, fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, with crude oil's free fall easing near $60 levels and few global events worthy of note, Indian markets appear more sensitive towards developments in domestic market in terms of reforms and better macros.
"With the Cabinet's approval to coal and insurance bills, we believe domestic factors and low inflation numbers will provide support to the markets in the medium term. The long two months ahead of the Union Budget may keep markets on the edge but expectations about reforms and rate cut will continue to provide support," he added.
According to Goyal of Bonanza, the markets may remain in the range of 8,100-8,550 in the medium term and trade sideways in the coming week.
FULL COVERAGE: 2014 Year In Review
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