After a long time, the main Indian stock indices managed to register weekly gains. The steep petrol price hike probably did the trick as it sparked off expectations of few more bold policy actions from the usually lethargic UPA II. 

But, it didn’t take much time for that perception to change as reports of a partial rollback in petrol prices started doing the rounds. Also, an EGoM scheduled for Friday to consider revision in other petroleum products was deferred amid stiff political backlash and public outrage. 

Whether UPA II manages to improve its scorecard in the remaining two years of its term is anybody’s guess. Things have not exactly been rosy for the Congress-led regime, and the biggest victim of the policy paralysis has been the rupee. 

Although, the local currency has recovered slightly in the past two sessions, it remains to be seen if it can sustain the pullback in the absence of progress on the policy front. Next week’s release of GDP data will be of interest to market participants amid fear of a deeper downturn. 

Finally, the Nifty added ~0.6% this week to close at 4920 and the Sensex gained ~0.4% to end at 16218.

Sensex top gainers: The top gainers in the Sensex were Reliance Capital (up 10.1%), Ranbaxy Labs (up 8.9%), Reliance Infra (up 6.1%), BHEL (up 3.7%) and Hindalco (up 3.7%).

Sensex losers: The top losers in the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki (down 4.1%), ITC (down 3.2%), HUL (down 2.6%), Cipla (down 2.2%) and NTPC (down 1.9%). 

The BSE IT Index (up 0.2%): The top gainers in the IT sector were Satyam Computer (up 8.1%), Sasken Comm (up 7.5%), Tata Consultancy (up 0.8%) and HCL Tech (up 0.8%).

The BSE Healthcare Index (up 0.3%): The top gainers in the Pharma space were Zandu Pharma (up 18.3%), Natco Pharma (up 15%), Wockhardt (up 14.3%), Fresenius Kabi (up 13.9%) and Dishman Pharma (up 9.9%).

The top losers in the Pharma were Orchid Chem (down 3.8%), Pfizer (down 2.8%), GSK (down 2.7%), Strides Arcolab (down 2.4%) and Panacea Biotec (down 2.4%). 

The BSE Banking Index (up 1.6%): The top gainers in the Banking space were Yes Bank (up 5.6%), Axis Bank (up 5.4%), Bank of Baroda (up 5.1%), Union Bank (up 4.4%) and SBI (up 3.4%).

The top losers in the banking space were Allahabad Bank (down 4.9%), Andhra Bank (down 1.6%), Kotak Bank (down 1.3%), Karnataka Bank (down 0.2%) and Canara Bank (down 0.2%). 

The BSE Auto Index (flat): The top losers in the Auto space were Maruti Suzuki (down 4.1%), Ashok Leyland (down 3.8%), Bajaj Auto (down 2.3%), Hero MotoCorp (down 1.4%) and Swaraj Mazda (down 0.9%). 

The BSE Oil & Gas Index (up 1.5%): The top gainers in the Oil & Gas space were Gujarat NRE Coke (up 4.9%), ONGC (up 3.4%), Essar Oil (up 2.1%), Great Offshore (up 1.1%) and Cairn India (up 1.1%).

The top losers in the Oil & Gas space were Chennai Petro (down 5.5%), IOC (down 2%), HPCL (down 2%), Gujarat State Petroleum (down 1.6%) and MRPL (down 0.4%). 

The Cement Sector: The top gainers in the Cement sector were Prism Cement (up 2.9%), Binani Industries (up 1.6%), Dalmia Cement (up 1.2%), Gujarat Sidhee (up 0.6%) and Grasim Inds (up 0.2%).

The Telecom Sector: The top gainers in the Telecom space were HFCL (up 15.1%), Gemini Comm (up 10.2%), WWIL (up 9.1%), MTNL (up 4.6%) and Tata Comm (up 2.1%)

The Realty Sector (up 1%): The top gainers in the Real Estate space were Ansal Properties (up 6.9%), HDIL (up 1.4%), DLF (up 1.4%) and Omaxe (up 0.2%). 

The top losers were Sobha Developers (down 7.7%), Anant Raj Indus (down 6%), Peninsula Land (down 1.7%), Parsvnath (down 1.7%) and Mahindra Lifespace (down 0.6%). 

The Metals sector (flat): The top gainers in the Metals sector were Lloyds Metals (up 5%), SAIL (up 3%), Tata Sponge Iron (up 2.5%), Tata Steel (up 2.2%) and Ispat Industries (up 1.6%).