Nifty has to stay above last week’s low of 5,605 to head for 5,800-5,860

The market settled in the positive in the holiday-shortened week on a relief rally after a sharp decline of nearly 4% last week on account of the political logjam at the Centre. International events and the release of key economic indicators will guide the market next week.

The BSE Sensex gained 100 points (0.53%) to finish at 18,836 and the Nifty rose 31 points (0.55%) to close the week at 5,683. The Nifty has to stay above last week’s low of 5,605 to head for 5,800-5,860.

The market settled lower on Monday as continued political uncertainties at the Centre ignited fresh worries about fate of the fiscal reforms of the government. The benchmarks managed to settle marginally higher amid choppy trade on Tuesday on support from consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods sectors. Resuming after a day’s break on Thursday, the indices closed in the green on Thursday on buying in rate-sensitive stocks. The market remained close on Friday for Good Friday.

BSE Consumer Durables (up 4%) and BSE PSU (up 2%) were the top sectoral gainers while BSE Auto and BSE Capital Goods (down 1% each) were the main losers.

ONGC (up 5%), Coal India, HDFC (up 4% each), HDFC Bank (up 3%) and Hindalco Industries (up 2%) were the key gainers on the Sensex this week. The losers were led by Hero MotoCorp (down 7%), Reliance Industries (down 5%), Tata Steel (down 3%), Larsen & Toubro and Maruti Suzuki (down 2% each).

The major gainers on the Nifty were ONGC (up 5%), Coal India, HDFC, HCL Technologies (up 4% each) and HDFC Bank (up 3%). The key losers on the benchmarks were Hero MotoCorp (down 7%), Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Industries (down 5% each), Tata Steel and Grasim Industries (down 3% each).

 In economic news, India’s fiscal deficit touched 97.4% of the budget estimates during April-February period of the current fiscal. In absolute terms, the fiscal deficit (the gap between expenditure and revenue receipts) stood at over Rs5.07 lakh crore at the end of February, according to the data released by the Controller General of Accounts.

The current account deficit (CAD) expanded to a record high of 6.7% in the third quarter of the current fiscal from 5.4% in the July-September quarter, mainly on account of a large trade deficit, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.

In monetary terms, the CAD— the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign capital—widened in the October-December quarter to $32 billion, up from $20 billion (4.4% of GDP) in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12, on account of a significant increase in oil and gold imports.

In international news, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades promised to keep his country in the euro as Cypriots adapted to restrictions on their use of the common currency to prevent a financial collapse.

Meanwhile, US consumer sentiment rose in March from the previous month, as Americans brushed aside concerns about government budget cuts and looked at the positive performance of the labour market.  The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment stood at 78.6 in March, up from 77.6 the month before.