BSE Sensex closes 53 points up, ends second consecutive week in red

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark Sensex on Friday closed lacklustre amid volatility and ended the week in the red. Realty stocks were the biggest losers amid a gloomy environment after Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) auction the day before failed to evince a good response.

The 30-scrip index closed at 17,636.8 points, up 52.83 points or 0.3 per cent from its previous close.

The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed moderately higher at 5,359.35 points - up 19.6 points or 0.37 per cent from its previous close.

For the week, the Sensex shed 1.6 per cent, while the Nifty lost 1.28 per cent.


Major losers included DLF, down 5.03 per cent at Rs 203.85; ONGC, down 2.22 per cent at Rs 281.45; Bajaj Auto, down 1.56 per cent at Rs 1,749.35 and Coal India, down 0.82 per cent at Rs 330.70.

The market breadth was mixed, with 1,411 stocks advancing, 1,485 declining and 127 remaining unchanged.

Overseas funds, the primary catalyst for the dramatic rise in Indian equities in 2012, bought stocks worth $56.14 million on Friday, according to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have put in more than $7.3 billion since the start of the year, having bought equities worth $2.03 billion in January and over $5 billion in February. The two trading days so far this month (March) have seen $189.05 million coming in from FIIs.

Asian markets moved up on news that European ministers had agreed to the measures laid out by Greece for getting a second bailout package for the debt-ridden country.

The Japanese Nikkei rose 0.72 per cent to end at 9,777.03 points, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.81 per cent up at 21,562.26 points. The Chinese Shanghai Composite index closed 1.43 per cent higher at 2,460.69 points.

European markets were trading quiet.

Britain's FTSE 100 was trading 0.18 per cent lower at 5,920.36 points. The German DAX was trading 0.11 per cent down at 6,934.01 points. The French CAC 40 was similarly flat at 3,502.93 points.