Sensex gains 176 points last week; Realty surges 5.5%

Indian equities ended the week on apositive note with Sensex and Nifty gaining nearly 1%. During the week, Sensex scaled the 19,000 mark for the first time since July 2011 and Nifty made a high of 5,807 which is the highest in last 17 months, on the back of reform process, coupled with rupee appreciation andhuge flow of money by FIIs. The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared big-ticket measures like opening pension sector to foreign investment and raising FDI cap in insurance sector to 49%. It approved up to 26% FDI in pension companies.The global backdrop remains fragile and uncertain. The eurozone debt crisis remains the biggest headache for policymakers across the globe.In Friday"s early morning session, Nifty circuit filter got triggeredafterthe 50-share indexwitnessed afree-fall ofnearly 900 points due toerroneous sell orders worth Rs 6.50billion executed by Emkay Global Financial Services. During the week, the 30-share index, Sensex gained 175.72 points, or 0.94% to 18,938.46, a 15-month high. On the other hand, the broad based NSE Nifty gained 43.65 points, or 0.77%, to 5,746.95. Meanwhile, BSE Midcap and Smallcap outperformed the broader indices by gaining 1.08% and 1.82% respectively. Sectoral indices at the BSE showed a divergent trend. Top gainers were BSE Realty (5.55%), Capital goods (3.49%), Consumer durables (3.18%), FMCG (2.4%), Oil & gas (2.2%). Rest BSE Power, PSU, Bankex, Metal and Auto were in the range of 1.90%-0.77%. However, BSE Healthcare (1.35%), IT (0.2%) and Teck (0.09%) dropped for the week.Sanjeev Zarbade, vice president of private client group research, Kotak Securities said, "Post the rally, market valuations are reasonable. The retail interest in the market is returning, which is a welcome sign."The monthly jobs data for September is expected today in the US, which will be closely watched. Going into the next week, we have the IIP and Inflation data on the cards. Post that, the earnings numbers would start trickling in.