Indian stocks climb for third week

Indian stocks climbed for the third consecutive week paced by power, cement, pharma and realty stocks. Continued inflow of funds by overseas and domestic investors also fuelled this rally.
India`s second largest power producer by market value, Reliance Energy jumped 9.11% during the week to Rs 850.4 on media reports that claimed the company is planning to hive off its engineering procurement and construction division into a new company.
NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), India`s biggest power producer, gained 7.90% to Rs 187.05 in the week after the company inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form special purpose vehicle (SPV) to secure thermal coal from outside India.
Over the week, Sensex gained 271.82 points, or 1.77%, to 15,590.42, while Nifty climbed 45.5 points, or 1.02%, to 4,464. However, on Friday the markets fell marginally. Market expert, K. Seshadri said, On Friday markets have closed without much damage to the steady rise of the Sensex from 15319 levels of the previous week to 15,590. That said the technical formation suggests the possibility of a decline, possibility with a lower opening on Monday. In fact the index has established a base at 15,370, which could serve as a launching pad for a further rise upwards.
Overseas investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 21,914 million during the period of Sep 3 to Sep 6. As per the provisional figures overseas investors were net buyers in equities worth Rs 3,846.8 million on Sep 7. On the other hand, Indian mutual funds were also net buyers in equities to the tune of Rs 7,076 million during the same period.Inflation in India has declined to about 16-month low at 3.79% for the week ended August 25, compared to 3.94% in the previous week.
UltraTech Cements and Grasim Industries led the advances among cement makers during the week. India`s second-largest cement maker, UltraTech Cement surged by 8.38% to Rs 997.5 over the week after the company reported rise in of 12% in sales in the month of August compared with previous year.
Grasim Industries, the nation`s third biggest cement maker, jumped 7.87% during the week to Rs 232.05. Ambuja Cements, the fourth biggest, gained 4.83% to Rs 139.9 in the week, while the largest cement maker, ACC rose 2.01% to Rs 1,088.95.
India`s third largest drug makers, Cipla pushed pharma stocks higher during the week. Cipla gained 8.34% over the week to Rs 180.6, after investors felt that drop in share price of the company during year was excessive to its earnings potential.
Another leading drug maker, Sun Pharmaceuticals jumped 8.76% to Rs 1,010.85 during the same period.
Among the other gainers, DLF, India`s largest real estate developer, which gained 5.10% in the week to Rs 620.1, while another major player, Unitech rose 4.61% to Rs 248.65.