Indian stock markets went up further over the week ended July 18, helped by lower than expected inflation numbers together with falling crude oil prices.

The market remained volatile during the week ended July 18. It made the majority of profits on Friday after the declaration of inflation figures.

Most active counters on the bourses were ONGC rose 10.99%, Maruti Udyog (10.62%), Larsen & Toubro (7.97%), Bharti Airtel (7.60%), and NTPC (7.04%), while the major losers’ included Ranbaxy Laboratories (17.69%), Satyam Computer (13.84%), Wipro (11.34%), Tata Steel (11.03%), and Hindalco (8.31%).

The Sensex marked its closure at 13,635.40, after making a gain of 165.55 points, while the 50-share index, Nifty profited 43.25 points to end the week at 4092.25.

For the week ended Jul. 5, 2008, the wholesale price index climbed up to 11.91% as compared to 11.89% during the previous week.

Crude oil prices recorded a sharp fall during the week. The light sweet crude for August delivery fell 41 cents, to settle at USD 128.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Stock market analyst, Vishwas Agarwal, said, “This week especially Monday, Tuesday is very important from the Indian politics perspective as no one knows the outcome and in such case any big commitment can make profit or losses in market.”

“The number game (272 seats) in parliament is neck to neck and the clear picture will come out only after the outcome of confidence motion,” Mr. Agarwal said.

He also anticipates a big fall in the stock market during this week if the government falls, and the nuke deal thus getting cancelled.

Mr. Vishwas advised investors to buy stocks only from investment perspective and not from trading perspective and be watchful if nuke deal is ruled out.