Market continues upward march for 5th week, Sensex up 176 points

Mumbai:  The benchmark Sensex continued its upward march for the fifth consecutive week, advancing by another 176 points to close the truncated week at 18,938.46 after crossing the 19,000 level on persistent buying from foreign funds on the back of a slew of economic reforms.

The BSE and NSE were closed for trading on October 2 on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

The Government this week unleashed a second wave of reforms. It decided to open the pension sector to foreign investment and raised the FDI cap in insurance to 49 percent, undeterred by opposition to its earlier decisions on FDI in retail and threats to block these legislations in the Parliament.

The Union Cabinet cleared big-ticket legislative proposals, including the new Companies Bill, amendments to Competition Act and Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index touched 19,137.29, a 15-month high, but fag end profit-booking pulled it down to end the week at 18,938.46, still showing a gain of 175.62 points or 0.94 percent. The Sensex had last ended at 19,078.30 on July 7, 2011.

The 30-share Sensex has gained 1,508.90 points, or 8.65 percent, in the last five weeks.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also rose by 43.65 points, or 0.77 percent, to end at more than 17-month high at 5,746.95. It had last settled at 5,833.90 on April 27, 2011.

However, the Nifty on Friday dropped by almost 900 points to 4,888.20 due to erroneous orders worth Rs 650 crore executed by broker Emkay Global Financial Services. This halted trade in cash market for 15 minutes, although NSE said its system worked fine without any technical glitch.