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Indian equity indices Sensex and Nifty closed at record highs for the week ended August 27. On a weekly basis, the Sensex rose 1.44% to 56,124.72 and Nifty climbed 1.6% to 16,705.20. Broader market gained. On Friday, all sectoral indices closed positively.
Broader markets also performed well as small cap and mid cap index on the BSE ended in the green. For the week, BSE Mid-Cap rose 2.5% and BSE Small Cap gained 2%.
FIIs sold on all days of the week and were net sellers to the tune of Rs 6,833.4 crore. DIIs were net buyers amounting to Rs 6,382.5 crore. Domestic institutional investors were the primary reason due to which Nifty and Sensex ended at an all-time high.
Among various sectors, BSE Oil & Gas (5.2%), Power (5.1%), Energy (4.3%), Cap Goods (3.9%) and Nifty Metals (2.9%) were top gainers. Nifty IT (2.9%) also advanced this week.
Top losers on sector basis were BSE Telecom (-2%) and Nifty Auto (-1.1%). Maruti Suzuki closed 3.3% lower compared to last week’s closing.
Company News
The chairman of Maruti Suzuki, RC Bhargava, said Maruti is not in a hurry to enter the electric vehicle space and the company will only start making electric vehicles when it is possible for the customers to afford it and the company can earn profit making EVs.
Airtel fell 3.3% during the week, after the telecom operator said that the company’s board will be meeting on August 29 to discuss about fund raising through various routes such as equity or equity linked debt instruments or any combination thereof including through rights issue, qualified institutions placement, preferential issue, convertible instruments issued domestically or foreign currency convertible bonds, or warrants on a preferential or marketed basis or any other mode including any combination thereof.
Speciality chemicals maker Sudarshan chemicals share prices soared 18.17% in the week after the government imposed anti-dumping duties on natural mica-based pearl industrial pigments. The company is the only manufacturer of the product in India.
Economy News
The Indian government announced a plan to monetise government assets to collect about Rs 6 lakh crore to fund its infrastructure project over a four-year period. Approximately, Rs 88,000 crore worth of assets will be monetised this year.
The asset monetisation plan will cover 20 asset classes across 12 ministries and departments. The top three sectors by value are roads amounting to Rs 1.6 lakh crore, railways at Rs 1.5 lakh crore and power at Rs 85,032 lakh crore. It also shows the road map for monetising brownfield projects where investments have already been made, where a completed asset is languishing or which is not fully utilised, the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
Global Markets
The US markets had a positive week as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indices closed at record highs after investors’ hopes were boosted after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium on tapering. In addition, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine which supported sentiment toward a faster economic recovery. For the week, the Dow gained about 0.95%, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% and the Nasdaq rose 2.8%.
In Asian markets, Chinese stocks continued its rise as the Shanghai Composite index jumped 2.8% and the CSI 300 index gained 1.2%. The country’s central bank met heads of top financial institutions and told them to strengthen credit support to support its economy. Japan’s stock markets rose during the week, with the Nikkei 225 index rising 2.31% and the TOPIX index gaining 2.01%.