Sensex posts weekly loss of 55 points; Realty, Power drag

Indian markets endedthe weekwith marginal lossled byRealty, Power, Banking and Capital Goods stocks.Quarterly numbers have been either in-line or below market estimates for most companies. Moreover, subdued global cues also dampened the market sentiments.The 30-share index, Sensex declined 55.26 points, or 0.32% to 17,158.44 for the week ended July 20, 2012. On the other hand, the broad based NSE Nifty dipped 22.15 points, or 0.42%, to 5,205.10 during the week. Most of the sectoral indices at the BSE ended in red. Top losers for the week were BSE Realty (2.52%), Power (1.56%), Bankex (1.15%), Capital goods (1.12%) and PSU (1.04%). However, BSE Consumer Durables, Healthcare, FMCG gained 2.53%, 0.84%, and 0.57% respectively. Meanwhile, BSE Midcap and Smallcap dropped 1% each.While commenting on the outlook, Dipen Shah, Head of Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities, said "Post the Presidential elections, hopes are high that, the Government will initiate fresh reforms initiatives. We reiterate that, reforms are a prerequisite for the markets to move up. Some of the reform initiatives are likely discounted and hence, if these do not come through, it may disappoint the markets. Monsoons are still deficient till date and are also of concern. This has implications for the inflation and also, to some extent, on the RBI policy action. Fed meeting at the beginning of August will also be important and markets will look at signs of further monetary stimulus, if any."

The headline inflation, based on monthly WPI, eased to 7.25% for the month of June 2012 as compared to 7.55% for the previous month and 9.51% during the corresponding month of the previous year.