Mumbai: Erasing the previous week's losses, key Indian equity indices -- the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty -- closed on a bullish note as positive global cues, along with healthy macro and auto sales data, stimulated investors' sentiments.
Market observers opined that investors remained optimistic on expectations of relief measures from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meet held on October 6 and added to the upward trajectory of the key indices.
On a weekly basis, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE surged by 530.5 points, or 1.7 per cent, to close at 31,814.22 points.
Similarly, the Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged higher by 191.1 points, or 1.95 per cent, to close the week's trade at 9,979.70 points.
"Nifty witnessed sharp upside bounce during this week, after showing weakness in the previous couple of weeks and closed the week higher by around 1.95 per cent," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities said.
Also Read: Raghuram Rajan’s name in list of Nobel Prize worthies
"Sectorally, banking, automobile, metal and realty sectors outperformed during this week, and IT and infra sectors underperformed," Jasani added.
D.K. Aggarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, SMC Investments and Advisors, said: "Domestic market closed the week in green on the back of robust auto sales and easing of geopolitical tensions. Also, expectations that the GST Council meet may provide some relief to exporters and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in terms of faster refunds and reduced compliance pushed the market higher."
"As expected, RBI kept its interest rates unchanged in its two-day monetary policy review meeting. On the macro front, services sector activity expanded for the first time in three months in September and stood at 50.7 in September from 47.5 in August," Aggarwal told IANS.
On October 4, the Reserve Bank of India in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2017-18 maintained the repurchase rate, or the short-term lending rate for commercial banks on loans taken from it, at 6 per cent and the reverse repo rate at 5.75 per cent.
In its review, RBI lowered the country's growth projection for 2017-18, pegging the Gross Value Added (GVA) to 6.7 per cent from earlier estimate of 7.3 per cent.
"Despite RBI's status quo on interest rate and reduction in growth forecast of 6.7 per cent from 7.3 per cent with concern over inflation, it did not create any volatility in the market since the commentary was less hawkish...," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
You may also Read: IT raids over 50 places in NCR, recovers rupees seven crore
"Additionally, positive economic data and global cues supported the market to trade in positive territory. The cut in petrol and diesel prices and decline in crude prices added to the sentiments," Nair added.
During the week, the Indian rupee weakened by nine paise to close at 65.38 to a US dollar from its previous week's close at 65.29.
Provisional figures from the stock exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors off-loaded stocks worth Rs 3,022.07 crore during the week, whereas the domestic institutional investors bought scrip worth Rs 3,896.06 crore.
Figures from the National Securities Depository (NSDL) revealed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) divested equities worth Rs 550.75 crore, or $84.44 million, during October 3-6.
The top weekly Sensex gainers were: Tata Motors (DVR) (up 7.76 per cent at Rs 239.45); Tata Steel (up 6.38 per cent at Rs 691.40); Reliance Industries (up 6.37 per cent at Rs 836.85); Sun Pharma (up 5.89 per cent at Rs 530.40); and NTPC (up 5.88 per cent at Rs 175.45).
The losers were: Power Grid (down 2.17 per cent at Rs 204.75); Axis Bank (down 1.43 per cent at Rs 504.45); Tata Consultancy Services (down 1.34 per cent at Rs 2,445.15); ICICI Bank (down 1.20 per cent at Rs 272.25); and Hero MotoCorp (down 1.09 per cent at Rs 3,703.70).
--IANS inputs