After opening with a negative gap of 291.49 points at 14,064.26 on Friday (August 1), the 30-share index BSE Sensex climbed up 247.57 points towards the closing sessions.

Good buying action was witnessed across sectors.
 
BSE Midcap and Smallcap index closed the week on a positive note after gaining 0.24% and 0.21% respectively.

The stock market bells ringed depressing tones during the early sessions mainly on the back of worldwide signals.

The majority of Asian stocks went down, led by raw-materials companies and banking institutions, after oil and metals costs dropped and banks announced lower earnings.

Japanese benchmark index Nikkei fell 282.22 points to settle at 13,094.59.

Hong Kong`s index Hang Seng gained 131.50 points to end at 22,862.60.

The Sensex closed the week positively after gaining 300.94 points at 14,355.75 after touching a high of 14,369.59. On the other hand, the broad-based NSE Nifty ended the week at 4,413.55, up 80.60 points, after hitting a high of 4,422.95.

The overall market breadth was positive as it witnessed 1,551 progressions as against 1,108 declinations.

All sectoral Indices traded positive barring FMCG (0.805) and Auto (0.63%).

Most active counters on the bourses were Jai Prakash Associates (8.67%), Tata Steel (6.05%) and HDFC (5.51%).

RCom led the laggards list with 12.65% fall followed by Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki, which fell 3.76% and 2.50% respectively.
 
Alex Mathew, head - research centre, Geojit Financial Services, discussing the market performance of the day said, “The first day of August series witnessed huge short covering. On Thursday we had seen short rollovers in Banking, IT and realty stocks in expectation of further decline in values. But traders, were trapped on Friday and forced them to cover their shorts propelled the rallies.”

P. K. Agarwal, president – research, Bonanza Portfolio, commenting on the daily market performance said that Indian stock markets have ignored higher inflation figures and continued to rally, despite weak global cues.

“Nifty took support at 4,235. But the Bulls came back strongly and pushed Nifty to a high of 4,422, with closing near the high at 4,413. Banking sector was the biggest gainer. Buying was also seen in SUZLON, Siemens, PNB, SBI. Weakness was seen in Auto sector, Tata Motors, Maruti, Tata Power and R Comm,” he added.

He also suggested that stock market seemed to have discounted all negatives. Investors can accumulate fundamentally strong stocks. Traders can continue to hold Long Positions with strict stop-losses.